


Doppelgänger

by RainingColours



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, M/M, Multi, Platonic Relationships, Slow Burn, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2020-10-19 01:24:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20648924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainingColours/pseuds/RainingColours
Summary: Cloud slips into a parallel universe where Shinra still reigns, and nobody is dead, except for himself.And things getcomplicatedwhen a not dead General is apparently thedeadCloud's soulmate.Cloud definitely shouldn't have left Seventh Heaven this morning.A Soulmate au with a twist.





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome! This fic was the fic I was originally working on (before the crossover fic idea hit me) and I realized I wasn't ever going to update/work on this fic unless I gave myself a good push. So here it goes!  
My first attempt at a long romance fic, so bear with me. Also, this fic jumps back and forth between past and present, so I hope it won't get _too_ confusing.
> 
> Enjoy!

Cloud couldn’t tell if the heat rising to his face was due to the steam from the water, or from the close proximity.

The steam, definitely.

The marble edge of the bath -_pool_,really- dug into Cloud's back uncomfortably, with how far he tried to lean away from the figure looming over him. Cloud was essentially trapped with Sephiroth’s arms leaning on the marble next to Cloud's boxing him in, with his head bowed staring down at Cloud with unnerving intensity. The General’s hair had fallen around him, like a silver curtain that gave them the illusion of privacy from prying eyes.

Nothing ever good came out of being the center of that attention. Usually it ended with another unwanted stab of Masamune, or receiving slabs of concrete and falling buildings.

Cloud's chest felt as if it was filled with hummingbirds, nervously fluttering inside his ribcage waiting for an opening to fly away. He was uncomfortable with this turn of events. There were no insane monologues, threats of destruction, or lofty proclamations of godhood with this Sephiroth.

At least _that _one was a familiar ground for the blond, and he could just use First Tsurugi and stab him repeatedly until he dissolved away. But this one?

Sephiroth raised a hand, and Cloud immediately tracked its movement out of the corner of his eyes, his paranoia never letting down. But Sephiroth only brought his hand closer to Cloud's face, and with the back of his fingers, he started to gently, slowly caress the blond's cheek.

Cloud felt his heart hammering even louder. What was Sephiroth doing? He wasn’t doing anything murderous or villanous. He was just there looming and_ touching_!

He felt trapped.

Then Sephiroth, with his unwavering gaze said, "I wonder..."

Gaia, he even sounded like_ him _.

Cloud thanked whatever summon was around when his voice didn't waver as he curtly answered, "...what?"

"I wonder what would take me to make you stay."

Just like that, the spell broke and Cloud fought to suppress a shudder. Make him? He swallowed the disgust rising within him, and grimaced.

For Sephiroth? It would take almost nothing to order Cloud, with the words backed by the J-cells and the call for Reunion at his beck and call.

But for Cloud? It would take everything. His freedom, his will, his mind, his agency.

He snatched the wrist of the hand that had been caressing him and glared as the other just looked perplexed. And through gritted teeth, he ground out, "Nothing you say or do will ever make me stay."

Cloud escaped the parody of closeness through the opening at the underside of Sephiroth's arm, and made a beeline to the exit of the bathroom.

He didn’t need to turn around to see the stunned expression the other man would be wearing.

After all, _his_ Sephiroth had never expected his puppet to ever disobey him either.

* * *

Cloud coughed, and sat up disoriented. His throat felt _dry_ as if he had been smoking nothing but the dust of the Midgar wastelands for hours, and the back of his head throbbed as if he had been clubbed by a particularly angry monster. _What_ had he been doing? Cloud was sure he wasn’t on any deliveries or travel schedules. He was certain he had left Seventh Heaven a few hours ago to get to the WRO headquarters after a particularly insistent summons from Reeve.

Then what was he doing here, out in the nowhere, instead of the bustling roads of Edge?

He dusted himself, and looked back. First Tsurugi was embedded to the dirt a few feet away from him, and after rummaging through his pocket assured him that he still had the materia he had been carrying around for a few days now. Lightning, Ice, Fire, Restore, Revive, Barrier, and Scan. He carefully pulled out First Tsurugi, slightly relieved that the impromptu dive into the dirt hadn’t caused any loose particles getting stuck in the locking mechanism, and sheathed it.

Reeve had asked for curative, and elemental materia after all.

He was certain he was nearby Edge, but so far, only a gigantic monument gilded in gold shone at the distance under the midday sun. Cloud shrugged, and started walking. He didn’t have Fenrir or a Chocobo Lure with him, so he would get to the monument by evening, at least.

_What _was it? It looked like the Gold Saucer, but it was differently proportioned. He could see at least 7 stories divided in between with gigantic plates, and it seemed as if it was more… phallic in structure. He spotted the glare of the light reflected on the base of the tower, hinting towards a decently sized city with solar paneling at least.

Definitely not Edge, then.

Solar panels had been one of the core of the new energy initiatives that the WRO and Cosmo Canyon had collaborated together in order to bring energy output levels that could rival Mako. So far it had been promising, but the photovoltaic cells had been too expensive for the citizens of Edge to afford one big enough to cover the city’s energy consumption, so the WRO had installed one in Junon instead, as a ‘test run’ before moving on to larger cities. Corel had been more focused on oil, and Mideel on geothermal energy.

There were some offshoots of AVALANCHE that claimed that oil was also harmful for the Planet, but nothing had been proven so far. So WRO had its hands full trying to bring the “quality of life” that Shinra had provided before, and trying to satisfy everybody around the Planet.

“Hey! Heeeeey!!”

Cloud stopped, and turned around warily with one hand at the hilt of the sword. There was a massive truck caked with monster guts and blood that was racing his way, billowing a dust cloud behind it as it sped up. One of the passengers had stood up from the seat, and was waving energetically through the window, half propped outside the fast moving car.

“You!! Blondie!! Yoohoo!”

The truck roared to a stop right in front of Cloud, and for a second, the swordsman worried that he would have to cast a Revive on the passengers who clearly were not wearing any regulation seatbelts or safety measures when the truck toppled precariously to a side when it slammed the brakes.

“You goin’ to Midgard then?”

The tattooed guy that had been waving at him banged the side of the truck a few times after the question, and the people on the vehicle hooted enthusiastically. Cloud frowned. Why would anyone go to a dangerous ghost city?

“Midgar?”

“Ohhh, you a country hick then? Nahh, it’s Midgard! The heart of our entire planet, the soul, the money, the goods, yeah?”

What in the Planet…?

“You seem a bit lost, bro. Weren’t you going to Midgard?”

“Midgar is a ghost city.” Cloud replied, still not letting go of the hilt of his sword. Better to be cautious if they ended up being a bunch of reckless scavengers who raided empty cities hunting for old Shinra _glory_.

But the man just laughed, and soon all the passengers followed with their hoots, giggles, and roars of enthusiasm. Cloud felt a sudden stab of uncertainty, but waited until the laughter abated.

“Nahh, bro. You seriously were living under a rock, huh? _That_ is Midgard, the Golden City.” The guy said with a hint of pride and awe, pointing at the golden tower at the distance. The numerous passengers gave another cheer at the mention of the name.

“So, you wanna lift?”, he said again when Cloud failed to respond. “We are all gonna live a new life there, yeah? So you can come with us if you wanna get there! It is farther than it looks, you know. There are rumours of people dying, those who didn’t have a reliable vehicle to take them there, and the sun is hotter than what you feel right now.” Some at the back nodded when he finished talking.

“What do you say, yeah?”

Cloud deliberated for a few second, and nodded. It sounded better than walking for hours under the sun wearing nothing but black. He could take them if they ended up being scavengers, and it sounded like a completely new city that Cloud hadn’t heard about before.

He climbed up to the back of the truck, sitting between two women who had bright shawls wrapped around their heads, and an elderly man who gave him a gummy smile when he made eye contact.

It was going to be a long drive.

* * *

Cloud stared. The passengers all climbed down from the truck with joyful springs to their steps, helping each other unload their travel packs, but Cloud could only blankly look further ahead.

_It_ was an _unholy _cross between Gold Saucer and Shinra megalomania. The entire city, bigger than Edge for sure, was all painted in gold, with the central tower gleaming even brighter with the artificial lights shined on it. The tower even went underground, with a giant hole dug underneath the city that was too similar to the slums under the Shinra plate back when it existed. Instead of only one plate separating the ‘rich’ upper level dwellers from the ‘poor’ slummers, there were _seven_. Trains busily interweaved between the golden support beams, and the bustle of the people could even be felt at this distance.

Instead of a tower within a city, it was a _city_ within a tower. Numerous bridges anchored the city and its first plate to the solid ground, leaving nothing but a mile long drop and the slums at the bottom of the artificial moat.

And no, the shine was definitely _not _from solar panels but from the sheer amount of gold that glinted under the light. And the ugly Shinra building on top of everything was made _uglier_ with the artificial color reflecting the light.

“Something else, yeah? We were all there, bro.” The tattooed man,- _Brogart_ he said his name was- whistled when he noticed Cloud just staying there, immobile. He carelessly patted Cloud twice on his arm, and walked back to the truck saying, “We have to move by foot from now on! We got our forger- _ahem_, legal papers but the checks are stricter on vehicle so we gotta move among the walkers. Be fast or we’ll be leaving you behind, bro!”

That shook Cloud out of his reverie, and followed the throng of people that had multiplied during the short walk into the first bridge that came on sight. The line of people trying to get into the city was long, and the bridge even longer. People speaking different languages shouted and talked around him, some sitting down and sharing a meal when it became clear the line wouldn’t move as fast as expected. Some started bartering, sharing tales, cooling down from the heat of the sun under the shade of the gigantic tower.

Brogart came through the crowd and slapped a few yellowed papers on his hands. “Oh, yeah, here bro! Almost forgot. Your residency papers, and your identification papers! What did you say your name was?”

Cloud blinked. “I… didn’t say. It’s Cloud.”

The man guffawed, and sobered up with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry to hear that, bro. Well, you can write down your own name at the top of the blank space of this paper. We had to do with whatever we had on hand, so sorry if yours isn’t up to standard. Nguyen tried his best.”

At the mention of his name, the old man with the gummy smile looked up from his sitting position further away, and gave them a thumbs up. Cloud gingerly returned it with a small wave of his hand. The old man kept prodding his sword and poking his chest, which had made Cloud uncomfortable during the whole trip on the truck.

“And when the guards come and ask questions, don’t be too creative with your story. Simpler it is, harder for them to check, yeah?” Brogart wiped the sweat from his brow, and slapped him on the back enthusiastically again.

“If you manage to get in, don’t forget to look me up on Sector 0, yeah? We hicks gotta stay together after all!”

_We country boys have to stick together after all!_

Cloud shook himself out of the sudden flashback, and managed a weak smile.

“Yeah, thank you.”

Brogart just guffawed again, and soon went back to his position, far closer to the entrance than the rest of the people were.

* * *

He ambled through the throng of people, all of them dirty but smiling. He was certain he was in the lower sectors, and the lack of Shinra troops told him _enough_ regarding the lower plates' sentiment regarding Shinra or anything upper-plate related.

Since the tower - _city- _ was tall, it didn't block out the sun entirely, and as a result the people seemed... not as withdrawn as the slum dwellers of Midgar during the peak of its Shinra glory. His memory of his arrival to Midgar was spotty, his time as an eco-terrorist was hazy, but he could definitely remember the tight expressions and feeble smiles of the lower plate citizens, shoulders hunched with unspoken fear of the invisible grip of Shinra, and the bruised and bloodied knobbly knuckles that people turned a blind eye to.

The people here... didn't seem to share that wrung-out desperation carved out of a hope withered too soon. 

Cloud walked inside a dingy shop that had 'Drinks and Food' smeared on the front, hoping to eat and drink something first before he started investigating 'Midgard'.

The patrons inside the bar quieted immediately when he stepped inside, and Cloud ignored the pointed stares, trying to not feel too unsettled. 

Cloud picked the furthest corner of the shop, and pulled out a stool. The cook behind the dirty counter flipped something expertly with the spatula and called out, “What can I get ya- _Strife?” _

The cook's face had gone slack, and the mystery food she was cooking was starting to burn in the pan. Her exclamation of surprise had _definitely _called the attention of every single patron inside the small shop. Cloud resisted the urge to sigh. The citizens of most of the smaller villages in the Planet had grown used to him and the AVALANCHE members dropping by and rushing out, and their initial awe and suspicion had simmered down into just a respectful distance. In the case of bigger cities, there were _too _many people to truly notice the mismatched group so they could move more easily.

That wasn't the case for _Midgard_, apparently.

Where was this city, exactly? He couldn't remember any place like this when they were traveling the continents, and a city-tower _this _big should have been on Shinra's radar since the beginning. The Shinra building on top probably meant that this was _another_ branch of Shinra-sanctioned city, and the name was _too _similar to Midgar to be a coincidence.

When he realized that the cook was still slack-jawed, waiting for an answer, Cloud shrugged lightly.

When she saw his eyes, the cook's astonishment bled out into a sheepish laughter that broke the tension in the room. She crossed her arms and exclaimed, “You almost fooled me! Ha! Nice one there. The eye colour seems wrong, but I could'a sworn that you were him in the flesh!”

Her boisterous declaration had the patrons laughing, smiling, and chattering with each other again, and Cloud spied one or two of them raising their glass towards him in a mock salute. He decided to remain silent, and just returned a small nod of acknowledgment.

“Well, you are one of the better ones out there!” The cook grinned and gestured at the menu scrawled on the walls. “Take a drink. It's on the house.” She winked and laughed at his baffled expression.

“It's appreciated, but why-”

“Why offer a drink for free? Well,” Her tone turned wistful, but her eyes glimmered with something fierce when she said, “Let's just say that you reminded me of _hope_.”

That... was unexpected.

His answer was lost in the sudden bustle at the entrance of the shop, and both Cloud and the cook looked back towards the door where someone was holding several stacks of empty glass bottle boxes as if they weighted nothing.

“Hey Flan, I was wondering if the delivering guy has been delayed? The bar didn't get the requested supply for today and-”

Wait. He knew that voice.

“Tifa?” He called, and the figure stopped dead in their tracks before dumping the entire load they had been carrying to the ground. The bottles rattled loudly and some of them shattered on impact, leaving a glittery mess on the floor.

“Cloud?”

She looked_ relieved _to see him, and Cloud blinked in confusion but returned her sudden hug with a small smile and a soft hug of his own.

* * *

There was a _statue_ of himself smack dab on the main square. His hair was spikier, had his buster sword at its back, and was reaching out to an imaginary recipient with a flower at its hand. But it was _definitely _him. He had his other hand on his chest and had his eyes closed, like some kind of tragic hero from a medieval rendition of _Loveless. _

...What?

People left bouquets of flowers at its pedestal, and lightly prayed under their breath. Tifa smiled slightly next to him, and said in a low voice, “The you from _here _died sacrificing himself to save the people. So they erected a statue so as to not to forget.”

Cloud, immediately uncomfortable with any kind of recognition, readjusted his hood and stayed silent.

“And also because you were an iconic couple with the General.”

Cloud choked and whispered in a strangled voice, “..._what?_”

Tifa only nodded sympathetically, and patted his arm in comfort. “Yeah, apparently you were his…” Here, Tifa coughed lightly and continued, “_First Love_.”

The blonde could _hear_ the Capital Letters on the innocuous two words. “First love?” he mouthed to her, feeling slightly hysterical. She only nodded. “Apparently it’s a big thing on this Planet. People call it _First Sight_ actually, to describe the first person who truly saw you for who you are. It’s kind of complicated, but the meaning could encompass any kind of love, from platonic to sexual, so…”

Tifa trailed off, and Cloud opened his mouth and closed it. Opened and closed it again. “And you are saying that I was…” Gaia, he couldn’t finish the thought. Absolutely _not_. He had had puppy crushes and fond feelings, with Aerith, Tifa, and _Zack_ once upon a time, all in the past, but never anything romantic or… sexual with anybody.

“You are my First Sight here too, you know.”

Tifa nonchalantly commented, and Cloud choked again. It was as if someone had summoned Kujata on his head, and had the Chocobo song on repeat on a broken radio. Bless her heart, Tifa soon noticed the faint expression on his face, and immediately dragged him away from the populated square to make him sit on one of the benches on the outskirts.

“Too fast?”

“...yeah.”

“Apparently the Tifa from here had the Nibelheim bridge incident with you. And when I crossed over to _here_ I kind of received her memories...” At Cloud’s faraway look she quickly added, “Don’t worry Cloud. I’m happy with what we had, _have” _she quickly corrected herself, “with Marlene and Denzel and the Seventh Heaven.”

She took a deep breath, and steeled herself before dropping the bombshell.

“There is another thing you must know. The General that the _you _from here was an item with? … is General Sephiroth. He is not dead here and… he is well-liked. And everybody who was _gone _in our world is alive here.”

The blonde only nodded, and palmed the _Revive_ on his bracer. He was definitely going crazy. This had to be a Mako fever dream, or some kind of hallucination that his sleep addled mind might have conjured up. Maybe he was in the chasm between life and death, and this was the… in between or something. Not the Lifestream though, because it wasn’t as green as expected.

Yeah, that made more sense.

He only needed to cast Life2 and Cure3 and he would be back on Edge, probably still on the sidewalk keeled over. He started feeding mana into the materia, which started to glow brighter and brighter. The light started attracting the curious glances of the passerby people, but Cloud didn’t care.

“Wait, Cloud! Don’t-!”

Tifa screamed and wrenched away his hand that was casting, and the spell went wide to the sky without a specific target.

About restorative magic: If there is no set target to heal, then it latches on to whoever or _whatever_ is the closest that needs healing. And in this case, the entire square glowed brightly for a moment, and soon exploded into showers of multicolored glitter, small winged figures coming down from the heavens, and a downpour of Phoenix Downs onto the pavements. The initial cries of terror changed into cries of surprise and happiness, and someone screamed, “I can _see _again after 40 years of blindness! It’s a miracle!!!”

Dead plants and shrubbery suddenly became vibrant and green, the elderly could suddenly run again, somebody found their dead dog alive and barking, and many found their neck or back kinks suddenly disappearing.

So when people started scanning the square looking for a cause of these numerous miracles, they found a pretty couple still holding wrists, frozen to their spot with something bright and _magical _slowly fading away in the wrist of the blond.

“...Shit.”

* * *

After eons of dodging a stampede, hiding behind trash cans, disguising the spiky hair, and even _crossdressing_, they finally managed to stumble back into Tifa’s bar, -Almost Heaven, as it was called here- and managed to lock the doors.

Tifa huffed, and pulled of the skewed orange wig from her head, and bonelessly slid onto the bar stool and hid her face under her hands. Cloud only followed, toeing off the glittery high heels by the door and followed her suit. He ran a hand through his hair and pulled off the cheap pins he had affixed to his hair one by one.

After a moment of silence, Tifa groaned.

“I am _never_ doing that again.”

Cloud just nodded miserably, and continued to pull off the clips from his hair. After just few more minutes of silence, Tifa looked up and turned to him.

“Right. Should have explained before in a more… controlled setting. How long have you been here?”

At her question, Cloud looked up as well and ran a hand through his face. “A few hours, at most.” Then he paused and shrugged. “Came to in the Midgar wastelands, or what I thought it was.”

Tifa closed her eyes and lightly picked at the frayed seams of her fingerless gloves. “I came here almost three weeks ago.” At her confession, Cloud’s attention immediately snapped to her. She continued, “I didn’t realize something was different until I was taking orders and I did not recognize any of the liquor labels when I turned around the counter.” She let out a slightly strangled laughter.

“At first I thought the kids were pulling a prank. They were always so well-behaved, so I thought to myself, the children are finally learning to _be _children, instead of having been forced to grow up so fast…” She paused, and continued at a lower voice, “That maybe it was them acting as children should so it was nothing to be alarmed about.” Her gloves creaked when she closed them into a tight fist.

She opened her eyes again when she asked, “When was the last time you saw _me, _Cloud?”

He stilled. He had left _Seventh Heaven _this morning, after saying goodbye to Denzel and Marlene, and had seen Tifa when he had helped her clean up the bar… Yesterday? Three days ago?

_Last week_?

Alarmed, he answered, “I… _can’t remember_, Tifa. Definitely within the week, but-”

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Memories were never his forte, with his spotty track record after everything, but something told him this was not another case of blank space-outs he had in the past.

Tifa just nodded and pursed her lips. “When… people _slip _into this world, the timelines get completely mixed. Reeve was here for almost five months. None of us noticed.”

“Reeve is here?” He had received the call this morning in order to head out to the WRO at Reeve’s request. Wait, no. Cait’s request on behalf of Reeve’s. But if Reeve had disappeared for almost as long as a day or two, the entire WRO would have gone ballistics.

“And Cid as well. He actually owns a tea shop here.” They shared a brief smile before the mood turned somber again. “We all just found ourselves here suddenly. No explanations, no magic, no nothing. Reeve is working on a way to get us back, but he is apparently in a high ranking position here as well, so his time is… limited.”

She stood up, and went behind the counter and produced two cups and a bottle of alcohol. After pouring them, she slid one to Cloud, who accepted the drink with a small nod of thanks. He definitely needed a drink, even if it didn’t work on him.

“We can get home again. I’ll make sure of it.” He promised, and Tifa returned a slightly strained smile. After they milled about their drinks silently, Tifa frowned and took the glasses away. She washed them with more force than necessary, and took a deep breath.

“Cloud… There is one last thing you should know.”

At his inquisitive glance, she gripped the counter with force, and thought about the best way of approaching the subject. It was a sore and painful spot for her, for Cloud, and almost everybody on AVALANCHE but especially for the Nibelheimers after the burning, and the… the _massacre _of the entire town.

“This Sephiroth… almost burned the world after he lost you here. Do _not _give him another chance.”

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've edited the first chapter to add in Tifa and Cloud's encounter so hopefully the story flows more smoothly now. Thank you all for the feedbacks! 
> 
> This chapter's warning: A LOT of curses, courtesy of Cid. Also, OCs for the sake of the story.

“Uh, Officer Clarksen reporting for duty, sir!”

Sephiroth closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying to not reach towards Masamune conspicuously and skewering the next incompetent idiot who stuttered out lost properties or dead dogs coming back to life. For some reason, the entire brass turned even _more _incompetent than usual, with a sudden flood of reports saying that the Memory Square suddenly sprouted flowers out of season, that a blind resident regained sight after decades of darkness, or the elderly suddenly finding strength to run across the square and harass their relatives regarding their lack of visit.

He may have been acting as the Regent for the _young _Shinra, but this was becoming too much.

When the General only nodded, Clarksen gulped once and clutched the regulation spear tightly. Goddess forbid the General noticing the tremble of his fingers. “I came directly from the guardpost on bridge Two, uh, where one of my men stopped a swordsman who had counterfeit entry papers.”

“Immigration problems should be directed to the according department, not mine, Officer.” Sephiroth replied monotonously, the slightly harsher grip on his pen the only thing that belied his annoyance.

Clarksen eyed the creaking pen with apprehension, and coughed. “According to his report, he had an uncanny resemblance to…”, he swallowed. “...to the _departed_ Corporal Strife, sir.”

The pen snapped, the sound ringing ominously in the suddenly oppressive silence that followed his declaration. The guard shifted uneasily, until he realized what he was doing and stood ramrod straight, looking at everything except for the silver general.

“Is this some kind of… joke?” he silkily asked, placing the now destroyed pen calmly on the table. Clarksen turned pale at the sudden display of normalcy. _Everyone _knew that if the General displayed something _other _than annoyance, cold indifference, and silent judgment, then it was time to get the _fuck out _of his vicinity.

“I-I will send the man who reported in immediately, sir!” He absolutely did not wait for a dismissal, and even if he was braking at least ten protocols, Clarksen turned around and power-walked as fast as his armor-clad legs would take him. Not even the entirety of Shinra’s coffers would have been enough to make him stay to see the pointy end of the General’s legendary sword. No siree.

* * *

Lemar was having an overall, _okay _day. The post as the bridge guard was never dull, a little bit harring and draining at certain days, but the stipend he received was acceptable, and he never needed to worry about being drafted now with the peace treaty. Apart from the swelling heat at noon when he was slowly cooked inside his gaudy armor, the job was nice.

Or that was what he had been thinking until this morning, when he had stamped the papers of a Wutaian trader and had grunted out, “...Next!”

The heavy thud of combat boots and the jingle of belt buckles was what greeted him first. The leather clad hand that handed him the yellowed papers, second. When he read the name on the paper, he immediately looked up and couldn’t stop the gawking.

Cloud _bloody _Strife was standing there.

How could he ever forget? Lemar was there when the entire Sector 1 plate was falling, and the Corporal, out of all the army, had managed to prevent it from killing thousands. The upper brass hadn’t cared, with the slums and lower-rung peasants possibly being the only ones sacrificed by the falling of the plate, but Lemar’s family had been living on Sector 1. Shinra’s carelessness was branded forever in Lemar’s memory, and probably in the minds of all the lower rung of Midgard’s citizens.

The guard shook himself, and looked down the papers. Looked up again. Down. Up.

Definitely _Cloud Strife_. But he seemed older, far more… _battle-worn_ and wary. And the sword at his back did not match the fated Buster Sword he had been wielding when the plate fell. And the biggest thing: Cloud Strife was dead. Lemar had helped dig out the body after the rubble and dust had settled, and the emergency priestesses had declared it so.

Too late for even the Head Priestess to coax life back into his cold body.

So, either this was some sort of identical cousin or twin of Cloud Strife, or a _very good _imitator. Lemar placed his bets on the latter option. There had been a small surge of fakes after the fall, but most did gigs in costume parties, or birthdays, and none came from outside Midgard. Shinra was good at keeping the information from leaking, after all.

“Name?”, Lemar asked, now filled with suspicion.

“Cloud Strife.”

The guard scratched his beard absentmindedly, and snorted. “Yeah, and I’m the General. Seriously, son. Name?”

The blond replica stared flatly, and then shrugged. “...Cloud Strife.”

Lemar could feel the rise of anger at being dismissed, so he drew himself up and glared down at the shorter man. “Look here, son. If you are one of them party people, you shouldn’t lie on paper. The Strife gig is relatively popular, I know. But there is no reason to even falsify your identity. You can get hanged, you know?”

At the blond’s blank stare, he sighed. “Look. I’ll give kudos to your attire, even if it’s not completely accurate.” The blond looked baffled, and Lemar signaled one of the rookies to take his place while ushering the cosplayer into the guard house for privacy.

“I have a daughter who idolizes that Strife boy as well, and she has made her own disguise. Calls herself Lightning, the twin sister of Cloud Strife or something. But I digress.” At the swordsman’s incredulous look, Lemar sighed and took off the bronze helmet, gingerly combing through the sweaty strands of hair. “Look, son. If you want to be so entrenched into the costume persona, then that’s fine. But as a guard, you have to let me do my job. And my job is to filter out suspicious people out of our Golden City. You following so far?”

At his nod, Lemar sighed. “Then I’ll just let you keep the name and papers, if you _don’t _cause trouble. Just, consider my questions customary.” The imitation only nodded again, the guard continued, “Reason for entry?”

The short man only seemed to deliberate for a moment to his credit, and said, “Sightseeing.”

Lemar scrawled some notes on his paper. “Duration?”

“A week, at least.”

“You are only taking a week to see Midgard? Hoo, son. It will take you at _least _a month. Try again.”

The blond frowned until his expression smoothed out again. “A month, at the most.”

Lemar nodded in satisfaction, and stamped the seal of entry onto his papers. “Then here you go, son. Welcome to Midgard, the Golden City.” When the swordsman nodded with a curt “thanks” and tried to make for the entrance gate of the Sector 1 plate, Lemar called out, “And wear some goggles son! Everyone knows that Cloud Strife had green eyes, not artificial blue! At least change your contacts!”

* * *

When Lemar finished recounting the story to the General, he took a surreptitious gulp of air. _Boy _that was long.

After the silence continued for longer than it was comfortable, the General narrowed his eyes. “And you filed out the illegal entry notice despite your own decision to let him in because…?”

Lemar scratched at his graying beard, and tightened the helmet strap. “Because it was obvious that his entry papers were counterfeit? Look, General, son. I’ve been a bridge guard for almost forty years. I can tell at a glance when a paper is hastily made by travelling merchants and smugglers. Was just doing my duty, sir.”

Sephiroth stood up from his chair, and looked out the window into the distant wastelands surrounding Midgard. After another bout of pensive silence, he asked, “And you said he bore an uncanny resemblance to Strife?”

The guard saluted half-heartedly until he realized his reflection could be seen through the window glass and hastily put his hand down again. “Sir, yes sir. Down to his short stature and strange hair style. If it wasn’t for his eye color and the ridiculous sword, I would have thought him the real deal, sir.”

“Where was he heading when he was cleared for entry?”

At that question, Lemar let out a huff and crossed his arms. “Well sir, I’m just the bridge guard, not a tour guide. But I reckon he was walking to the direction of the Temple of the Goddess.”

“Thank you. Dismissed.”

His eyes noticed the sloppy salute of the old guard reflected on the window before he retreated outside. Sephiroth sighed softly, and leaned his forehead on the cool surface of the window. He didn’t remember the brief flash of hazy period after the notice of Strife, -Cloud, he corrected himself- _departing_ from Midgard.

According to Zack, they found His Royal Majesty, Elysium Shinra, slumped on his desk, with Masamune sticking out of his back and Sephiroth mumbling incoherently about _fire, fire, fire, _in his office. But apparently, the entire Sector 7 and the surrounding palace had been blazing, and the Elite royal guards, SOLDIERs, had their hands full trying to prevent the inferno from scaling down to the lower plates, and evacuating nobility.

He woke up three days later in the medical wing of the Temple of the Goddess, with the Head Priestess peering down at him with concern, and Zack babbling about over exposure to smoke.

They had declared it was a Post Termination Sight Dissociation, and managed to cover the fact that _he _had assassinated the King of Midgard, set fire to the upper plates, and caused more property damage than the actual war against Wutai.

Ironically, all the regents had been killed during the fire, so the only one who was high-ranked enough until Shinra Jr. ascended to the throne was _him_, the cause of the entire catastrophe.

Sephiroth grimaced at the recollection, and after some time sighed and took up Masamune that was carefully tended to, and strode out of his office.

Everything else could come later. But for now? There was an impostor to apprehend.

* * *

Cloud’s lips twitched at the almost _ancient _signpost that messily declared “<strike>_Cid’s Tea _</strike>_Highwind’s Mechanic Shop_<strike>_pe_</strike>_”. _The pilot had just blackened whatever he didn’t like with _tar _of all the things, and it had dried into a gooey, disgusting mess that didn’t even cover up the letters properly.

The door _jingled merrily _when he entered, which made Cid who was at the back room start up cursing.

“If you want a goddamn tea, I ain’t serving any for you poncy asses! If yer here for something to be repaired, _sit the fuck down _and I’ll bring out the goddamned tea, and you will fucking _drink it_, got it?”

“Sure.” Cloud replied with a small smile, and more cussing followed. After a loud clatter of different tools falling, a _bang!_ that prompted more cuss words and hurried footsteps, Cid poked out of the backdoor, immediately grabbed Cloud by his arms, and started to drag him to the workshop.

After making sure Cloud was tucked into the back shop, the pilot eyed warily at the entrance, turned the sign as “Closed”, pulled the curtains and blinders on all the windows, and turned off the lights. He tried to light a cigarette until he realized the dim glow of the light would be visible from the outside, -_goddamn flimsy ass curtains_\- and just munched on the unlit cigarette, scowling.

“You chocobo ass better have a _good _explanation for this, or you have placed us in some real ass shit!”, he grumbled.

Cloud tucked down the hood that hid his hair, and leaned against the wall of the shop, crossing his arms feeling slightly defensive. “I just woke up here. No materia, no magic.”

“God_damn_ it. You too? At first I thought it was you with all the weird craziness that happens ‘round you!” he replied, and tried to find the triple damned tea bags to brew some tea in the dark.

“Fuck! You piece of stupid dead leaf-”

Cloud handed him the small satchel from the wooden drawer out of place in the filthy mechanic shop, and Cid took it with a grunt. He just pushed all the tools from the work table with a loud clatter and turned on the welder under a tripod and put on the dented kettle on top of it. Safety be damned.

“We are gonna drink _tea_ like civilized assholes, and calm the _fuck down_, and do some analyzin’.” He pulled off the grimy work gloves, readjusted his goggles on his head, and sighed.

Cloud shrugged. “I met Tifa earlier, and she told me to come and see you.” Cid grunted, and turned to pour out the kettle that was whistling loudly into some delicate porcelain cups -courtesy of the old Cid _here_-, and handed one to the blond.

“Fuck! Too hot.” Cid coughed, and sipped again. “So, how much do you know? Wait a minute. How long have you been here? No, shit, wait. Is this related to… the Lifestream shit you go through almost every goddamn year?”

The ‘Lifestream shit’ as Cid so eloquently put it, was his way of asking not so subtly about the visions of Aerith and Zack that Cloud had often in the past whenever his mind was pulled into the Lifestream. He might have clammed up if this question was brought forth in the past, during… _everything_, but now he could answer it without feeling like he had to hide.

Cloud shook his head. “The last time I’ve seen _them_ was during Geostigma and the Remnants. Nothing after.” He was proud of being able to say that without choking up, or feeling overwhelmed. He had come a _long way_.

“And I’ve been here only for a day.”

The pilot swore loudly and sipped some more tea. “Damn, I was hoping they could use their dead green magic shit to, I dunno, bring us _back_. Reeve has been delayed, you know Reeve is here too, right?” When Cloud nodded, Cid continued, “They got no airships here. _No airships_! Newfangled planet loving asshats or something. They have goddamn _trains_ to move between continents, and this Cid had a fucking _Tea shop_!” He almost whispered in a strangled voice.

“No goddamn dimension travel is gonna ground Cid fucking Highwind, so I’ve been scraping whatever I came across to build another plane. That way none of those assclowns in the fancy castle can come barging in when we jet outta here, and we can have a more secure location to hold meetings.” He spat out the cigarette, and took the last swig of the tea.

“And we can’t let _him _see you, cuz’ he’ll go batshit insane again but for all the wrong reasons, and my shop is not Sephiroth proofed, so ye can’t come in here regularly!” At Cloud’s expression, Cid swore again. “Aw, hell. How much did Tifa tell you?”

Cloud lowered the warm cup and stilled for a moment. “About First Sight,” He swallowed bitterly the words “To the General Sephiroth” and grimaced, “that everybody who was dead in our original world is alive, and that I shouldn’t use materia.”

_Gaia_, he still felt weird when he thought about it.

“Fuck, right.” Cid ran a hand to his hair, pulling at his goggles. “Shit, fuck, rat-tastic, fucking-” He took a deep breath, and fished out another cigarette from his back pocket. “Right. General apeshit. And Tifa’s right, you can’t use any materia you have cuz’ apparently only the Priestesses of the Temple or something can perform ‘miracles’ here, and the _last thing _we want is to draw attention to you, when probably the shitlord himself is setting other people’s asses on fire.”

“And no killing Sephiroth here.” Cloud said, frowning.

“And no killing General shithead, yeah.” Cid agreed and gnawed on the cigarette. “Politics here have been _crazy stupid_, so if we or _you_ take out the General, the entire city will fall into disarray with the power vacuum that will be left behind. Fuck. I would usually jump at a chance to stick it to the jackasses of Shinra, but-”

The was a sudden knock at the door. The duo, alarmed, immediately stilled. Cloud put on his hood, and unsheathed First Tsurugi, and Cid cursed softly when he realized that he didn’t have any weapons with him. After some frantic searching, he grabbed the welding torch and fell behind the swordsman, nodding.

The knocking returned, more insistent than before. The bang! bang! bang! was loud in the sudden silence, and it felt like a funeral bell tolling ominously. Cid looked at Cloud. _What could they do?_

The swordsman read the question in his eyes and silently made to the front counter of the shop, with Cid following close behind. The wood would provide poor cover if the person behind the door had anything bigger than a broadsword, but any cover was better than no cover.

“Hey, c’mon man! I know that you are in there!! I seriously need your help or the General will have my head! You are the only one who can help! _Please!_”

At the desperate plea at the end, Cid looked towards the Ex-SOLDIER again. When Cloud gave an imperceptible nod, he growled out. “Ain’t open for shit right now! Read the goddamn sign! What does it say? Open? Of-_fucking_-course not! Come back tomorrow!”

“Please!! I’m desperate! And you are the only one who can help me!”

Cloud held out his bracer angling it so that he would have a direct shot to the front door, and his eyes flicked to Cid. The pilot, understanding in his eyes, lowered the welding torch and placed himself diagonally to the door so that the _fucker _would have no way of escaping the magic even if he ran inside or further back to the door. “You better be alone if you got a problem worthy of the General’s attention, you shithead!”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m by myself so don’t worry. Won’t report or anything I swear, probably I will get into more trouble if I do, so _please_, man!”

Cid swore under his breath, and slowly unlocked the lock, and the door slowly swung open. This was _definitely_ going to come back and bite his ass later, and since he was done waiting for the stupid door to open all the way, he just yanked the door brusquely.

He _knew _he stumbled into a fucking _tonberry _of a situation when Cloud just lowered his arm and hoarsely asked,

“...Zack?”

* * *

Zack was worried. No, scratch that. A worry wrapped in another worry meant it was still a worry. So he was at least triple worried. It had been a terrible period for all SOLDIERs, especially after the string of deaths that followed their ranks for a couple of months now. Morale was low, the citizens were antsy, and Zack felt as if he could be doing _more_ if not for the quota of missions he was already filling out at a crazy pace. Even more, and Lazard had threatened with an absence leave.

But his current problem was not that. It was _just _his luck that the fifth PHS he had replaced was trashed again. It wasn’t his fault that he was _always _drenched in monster guts, seawater, drain water, mud, or plain sand, _honestly_! The missions he was sent out to was always messy.

However, his explanation of, “It was a reaaaaally big Elfadunk! Made of nasty stuff, I swear!” would not fly with the provisions department this time. Up to PHS number 3 his charm worked, but now? He would probably get an official notice written by the unimpressed clerk, and get sent to Sephiroth for an official reprimand of officialness.

Which, nope.

Knowing Seph, that would mean one or two things: Writing a writ of apology, which meant _paperwork, _or receiving a docked pay for the month, which _also _led to _paperwork_.

And he could deal with neither.

So option three: Go the the best mechanic on the plate, and hope that his temper was not as legendary as it was rumored. It was only… 9 at night, plenty of other shops still were open at this time, right?

Apparently not Cid Highwind, if the all caps CLOSED sign on the door was anything to go by.

But this was an _emergency_, and he was certain he heard cursing from inside his house, -_yikes, temper_\- and the PHS was top priority. So he knocked hard, keeping an eye on the streets in case Tseng was sulking around, -and seriously, he _always_ appeared when Zack wanted him the least- and added a pinch of desperation to his voice.

The door, thank the Goddess, opened and immediately yanked apart so Zack took no time to scurry inside. Not because of Tseng, seriously, but for his concern over his PHS.

Yeaaap. Serious business, that.

For some reason, Cid’s shop was entirely dark, -right, closed hours- and he spotted a hooded figure with glowing eyes that whispered, “Zack?” and he was immediately on guard. Glowing eyes meant SOLDIER, and all current ones in roster were placed in missions because they were stretched thin. So one being here meant that the figure was a renegade, or a very, _very _hardcore drug user, if the intensity of the glow was anything to go by, and both options sounded _very _unappealing, thank you very much.

“Yeah, that’s me buddy. You another customer of Cid?”

The figure continued to gape at him, and Zack’s hand gripped the PHS in his pocket to send out an alert, until he realized that the stuff was currently busted and plastered on a sheepish smile. Better to lure the rogue? junkie? into letting his guard down, and take him out as fast as possible.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door closed behind him with a bang, and another gruff looking man came into his sight. The older man lit a cigarette, and exhaled angrily. “So? If yer the ass looking for help, pardon my language but you don’t fucking look like needing any help. You caught me during off hours, so I ain’t serving you any tea, got it? If you got something to repair, then I might consider it looking over.”

“_You _are Cid Highwind?”

“What, got a problem with that?”

Zack raised his hands to placate the man, and scratched his head sheepishly. “Sorry, I was just told that you closed your tea shop and suddenly opened a mechanic one, so I was expecting somebody more… uh… weird?”

At his words, Cid scoffed and fumbled for the light switch. The shop immediately brightened, and both Zack and the figure winced at the sudden influx of light. Zack blinked a couple of times, trying to get rid of the burns behind his eyelids, while Cid asked, “So, what’s yer emergency then?”

Oh, right. “My PHS is busted, and I was hoping you could repair it?” He handed the device to the mechanic -tea shop owner?- peripherally keeping within sight the hooded figure who was still gawking at him, like he was a ghost of a loved one or something.

What was with that sword? Or the all black get up? That screamed ‘suspicious figure here!’ to Zack.

“Che, gimme a damned second. This fucking ancient shit has to be done manually-” Cid looked up mid-rant, noticed the tension and cleared his throat. “I’m tending to a customer here, so get yer pale ass on gear and _get_ out!”

At that, the figure flinched and nodded, and stumbled away to the exit. Zack narrowed his eyes when the man -definitely a man, with those muscles- passed him by, and couldn’t stop his mouth from opening.

Was that _Cloud_?

It had been only a glimpse, but the sunny strands of hair squashed under the hood and the soft tilt of his nose was unmistakable.

“Wait! Cloud!”

The figure jerked, and immediately sprinted into a dead run.

“Wait!!” Zack leaped to action to intercept his once _dead _friend, and tripped over a tool cart that had rolled into his path. The entire thing toppled with him, making a loud crash in the shop. “Ack! What- when did you-?” He managed to get up, flailing to get rid of the screws and bolts that had found themselves inside his clothing but immediately stumbled on top a mechanic creeper seat that had _somehow _rolled into his path as well. “Ah! Wait! Cloud!!” Another loud crash. Zack growled and pushed himself up, ignoring the broken mess that fell to the floor when he shook himself. He didn’t have _time _for this!

“Hey, wait a minute, you can’t leave my shop destroyed like this!” Cid shouted, and Zack sheepishly threw a grin over his shoulder, and dashed to the exit. “Sorry! I swear I will come back for the PHS and pay for everything I’ve broken!”

He ignored the loud string of curses behind him and ran as fast as he could.

The streets were dark, with only the artificial lights of the streetlamps intermittently dotting the city. Zack frantically scanned the alleyways trying to avoid running into SOLDIER buddies going drinking after a long day at work. He would be roped into drinking with them and for once he did _not _want that happening, especially not after he saw the apparition of his _departed _friend walking and breathing!

Zack lost track of time, or how many times he ran around the entire sector 2 and 1 plates. He couldn’t check every nook and cranny but he tried going to every spot Cloud would go and hide when he was feeling _cloudy_, -heh, pun- after he failed his first and second SOLDIER exams, or when Seph was being a jerk, or-

He skidded to a stop. _Holy Gaia, Seph!_

What would the General _do _if he realized Cloud wasn’t dead? Zack _needed_ to tell his friend, _pronto_. It would at least brighten his day and get more manpower to search for his errant friend if he could get the General behind the cause!

Zack patted his pockets for his PHS, and huffed when he realized he left it behind with Highwind. The device _had _to be busted when he needed it the most!

He turned and ran to the trains that would take him up the plates. It was a going to be a _loooong _run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos, bookmarks, and comments! I wasn't expecting this fic to be so well received.  
I hope you've enjoyed the 2nd chapter.Regarding the scene jumps, it's a new style I've been experimenting but I'm still working on it, so if something feels messy or wonky, please don't hesitate to leave a comment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hii i'm alive

Cloud huddled in the corner of the small room Tifa gave him in the second floor of _Almost Heaven_. She had glanced at him _once _when he dashed into the bar scaring the patrons, and had immediately ushered him upstairs with a cup of water in tow.

Sweet Tifa, _he _was in her debt in more ways than he could ever repay her, and she continued to stand by him. He couldn't understand _why _but still he was inmensely grateful.

She went downstairs to declare that the bar was closed early for tonight, and that patrons could get a discount drink _tomorrow, thank you_. When she came up again and found him in the same position she had left him in, she slowly sat next to him and grabbed his hand, softly, _softly._

When silence descended on the room, Cloud curled his fingers to Tifa’s grounding touch. After a millennia of just trying to remember he was _here_, he croaked out, “... I _saw _Zack, Teef. And I-”

_How _could he explain? When he looked at the face of his dead best friend, there was a rush of _sensations _that flooded his senses_. _it was like a sudden burst of sunshine over the mountains after the harshest winters in Nibelheim, the first breath of crisp, fresh air after struggling to not drown under a glacial torrent, like, like-

Like the _warmth _of an accepting hug after _years_ of painful isolation.

Cloud fumbled for a description, and Tifa’s lips formed an ‘o’, eyes with understanding. She suddenly laughed, the gentle sound cutting through the gloom of the room like the crack of a whip.

“You had your First _Sight_!”

“What?”

“It sounds like what _this_ Tifa had with you! Only for her it was more like… the lick of the flames of the hearth with the winter raging outside, or the wind whipping through my-her- hair while free-falling, the eternal second of heartstopping _relief_ knowing that you will be caught safely. It’s… hard to explain without _feeling _it.”

He nodded. But he didn’t merge with this self like Tifa had since the Cloud of this place was dead, and the event sounded like something _only_ this world’s residents went through.

“But I thought only people from _this _place had it?” he asked, still worried that he might be losing his mind after years of recovery.

Tifa was pensive. “I thought so too. I mean, Cid didn’t go through it because _this _Cid didn’t meet Shera I believe, but tales of First Sight are common in Midgard. But don’t worry, Cloud. It only means you found someone important in your life!”

Cloud smiled hesitantly at her, and she returned the smile with one of her own. “Well, now that I know that you aren’t going to suddenly disappear off the map after the spook, I should start reopening the bar. You are welcome to stay here as long as you help out once in a while!” She stood up, but remained at the door looking back at him. Her expression dimmed a bit but her voice was strong when she said, “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

Cloud opened his mouth in order to say, thank you for being there with me, Tifa. For putting up with me, for _everything_, but settled with a simple “thanks”. If she caught the word filled with unspoken gratitude, her only response was to smile kindly at him and close the door.

The sudden solitude didn’t bother Cloud, but he couldn’t help the somber thoughts returning. He wasn’t transported here via magic, or the Lifestream. None of them were. Until Reeve could find out a solution, they were effectively stuck. He could go and try to track down Exit materia, to check whether they could just _escape _this current dimension, or find out more about this place until Sephiroth decided to go crazy and drop Meteor on the Planet again. Who knew? Even if this world wasn’t an exact replica of Gaia, too many things were alike for him to be relaxed.

‘Or’, his mind traitorously piped up, ‘you could just go kill Sephiroth, Hojo, _JENOVA_, not necessarily in that order, to make sure _this _Zack and Aerith don’t have to go through _dying_ again.’

Cloud stood up abruptly, thunderstruck.

Hojo AND Jenova. If they were dead in his world, probably they were alive and kicking here. Probably holed up in some damp, dark lab weaseling and plotting the end of the world as well.

His mood soured further, and with brusque efficiency, he checked and slung First Tsurugi to its harness, and ran a glove over the materia linked in his bracer.

‘It would be _easy_ to dispose of them. They don’t even _have_ common materia on this world.’ his mind whispered, and Cloud slowed down re-linking the orbs.

He didn’t even have to take out Sephiroth this way. What did Cid say? Power vacuum and uprisings if Sephiroth was killed. Right.

Then Cloud only needed to get rid of one greasy scientist, and a crazy alien parasite to stop Sephiroth from killing everybody on sight in this possible future of this world. And by doing that, he didn’t need to come into contact with Sephiroth and the whole… _First Sight_ business. He was willing to deal with an insane Sephiroth in his bad days, but he was absolutely _not _going to cross paths with a...a… _mooning_ Sephiroth.

Satisfied with a possible plan in his head, Cloud scribbled a note for Tifa. He checked his equipment again just in case, and opened the window of the room and stealthily climbed out of the house. To track down either of those two, he needed some intel from Reeve.

* * *

Zack huffed and squatted down next to an artfully carved statue of the Goddess to avoid the stink eye from the guard across the street. He had been around this area many times before, but the guard always glared at him whenever he dropped by to visit his girlfriend.

No visitors allowed inside the Temple, blah blah blah, no swords allowed blah blah blah, no _profane _touching within walking distance of the place blah blah blah. Everytime he came here, the sermon of the guard would be _different_.

And the only thing he and Aerith had done together so far was to hold hands and grin goofily at each other! She definitely deserved the best of the best after all, and he wasn’t even planning to _propose_ to her until he had _everything _in perfect order. Which… was still a few years away, anyway. He had a promise to fulfill to her after all!

“Zack! Were you waiting long? What are you doing here?” He broke away from his daydream and looked up to see her _amazing _girlfriend peering down at him with a secretive smile. He jumped up, offering his arm in a comically grand gesture, and she giggled lacing her arm through his.

“Just making sure no monsters were lurking around the shadows!”

She grinned and he was certain he was mirroring her smile. “Well, thank _you_ for being such a gallant knight!” she quipped, and they walked down the stairs of the Temple together.

“Nothing but the best for the lady!” he replied cheekily.

The walk was short and they arrived at the garden of the Temple, and she let go of his arm to kneel next to the flowers covering the entire place. There was a small pond at the center of the garden that sparkled serenely under the sun, and Zack took a deep breath, relishing the fragrant scent of the flowers and wet dirt.

“I will never get tired of this place, I swear! I don’t know how you convinced the higher ups to allow _sunlight_ in here! Well, even if it’s just for one or two hours anyway.”

He stretched up, feeling his spine pop and squatted down next to her, making sure his sword strapped at his back did not gouge into the dirt. She smiled with appreciation, and started tending the blossoms. “I just told them Midgard needed a little bit of cheering. We all could use a bit of it!” she replied looking at him _knowingly_, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Zack swallowed a small lump in his throat, and put as much positive energy as he could squeeze into the smile he returned to her. He felt guilty dumping his troubles onto her, knowing that her position in the Temple meant that people came to complain to her all the time.

“Don’t be silly, Zack. A burden shared is a burden halved, right?”

_Gaia, _he just wanted to hug her and pepper her with kisses and steal her away into Costa del Sol to drink sherbets together. Or maybe Mideel. Somewhere close to nature.

He shook his head to clear it from sunny beaches and soft smiles.

“Uhm… Well… You know Cloud, my buddy?”

She nodded, and he continued, “He… departed from Midgard, right? I buried him on the hills of the Golden City so that he would be able to see what _he _managed to protect and- wait. I’m getting off track.” He took a deep breath and started again. “I… _saw_ him again. _Here_, in Midgard. He was in a _tea shop turned mechanic_, and he was all stoic and hiding, had a big sword that wasn’t Buster, and he _disappeared _but I couldn’t find him even with Seph’s approval and a small army and-”

He stopped and ran a hand over his spikes. “I’m not making any sense, am I?”

She _hmm_-ed and placed her hand on her chin, “Nope, you are good.”

Zack sighed explosively out of relief and smiled gratefully at her, and she handed him a flower which he carefully entwined with practised hands. “The voices of the Goddess have been… hmm… strange, lately. They talk about an itch that can’t be scratched because it is small but it’s distracting. It sounds like something is going on Midgard for sure.”

He looked at her with concern, but she just waved them away. “No world ending threats, don’t worry, you silly.” Zack grinned and she pressed another flower into his hands. “The Goddess just finds it… weird. But your friend suddenly returning from her hands doesn’t seem too out of place.”

“Then you think-?”

She stifled a smile at his hopeful expression, and gently strung a small flower ring into his hand. “I don’t think. I _know_.”

Zack pecked her cheek and swung her around. Her giggles were like birdsong to his ears. “You are the _best, _Aerith!”

They grinned at each other, and he gently let her down again. When he held his arm out again for her, she shook her hand. “Go look for your friend! And don’t forget to bring him here to introduce us!”

He saluted and tried to sprint out, but stopped when she held out her hand palms up. At his unspoken question, she smiled cheekily again and said, “No donations for the advice of the Priestess?”

He dashed to her, and placed a quick kiss to her lips after twirling her in the air again. They both flushed, and shared a goofy grin. _She was so cute!_

Zack saluted again before running out of the garden but not before adding, “Sorry, didn’t bring any gil! Maybe next time!”

* * *

Sephiroth sighed when another day of discreet patrolling and searching didn’t yield any results. He didn’t want to get his hopes too high of catching the imposter, even when Zack had caught him on his way of the the office and babbled about seeing _Cloud _in a shop, but he ran so fast he lost him so please could the General divert some units to search _off the table _please?

That had been a week ago, and his budding hope wilted each time Zack came back with shoulders slumped and a shake of his head. For some reason, the Lieutenant seemed to operate under the assumption that Strife was suddenly living and breathing again, and Sephiroth didn’t want to crush prematurely the dreams of his subordinate.

Not after Angeal departed in such gruesome manner and the way Fair had been… performing under the weather.

If this search for the… _clone_ was enough to bring back the cheerful side of Zack, then Sephiroth was willing to go along with the ruse and spare some of the more idle guard units.

Sephiroth had given up a long time ago, when Shinra decided that Genesis, Angeal, and now _Strife _were just _collateral damage_. Maybe that was why he had stabbed the man with Masamune during his hazier days?

He glanced down at the now pristine blade in his hand. Masamune was reserved for those worthy of battle, not the blood of that… _pig_. Sephiroth made sure every speck of red was completely gone from its surface when the sword was returned to him after the investigation of the Turks along with the proposal of _regency._

There was a sudden clatter echoing through the stairway. An accident, perhaps?

His thoughts were interrupted as a lithe figure ran out of there, with a giant sword that was smeared with-

_blood_.

Sephiroth drew Masamune out of its sheath, and ran to intercept the attacker. He placed an emergency dispatch through the PHS for a Priestess who could take a look at the person who ended being at the wrong end of that giant sword, and _leaped._

The figure hadto be _skilled_ to infiltrate up to the 69th floor of the Shinra building without tripping any alarms, so calling for back-up guards would be more of a hindrance for Sephiroth to apprehend the attacker.

He thrust out Masamune in a _non-lethal _spot to disable, not to _kill_, but impossibly, the figure blocked his attack with his heavy sword.

Sephiroth blinked.

Within that second, he found himself on the defensive, trying to parry the vicious strikes the stranger rained down on him. The clash of swords continued until the figure cocked his head and suddenly dashed out to the windows, _dropping down_ to the sector 8 plate and Sephiroth jumped out in tandem to follow.

The wind whipped at his hair, and the figure _turned _midair to meet his blade once more, before putting more force into the next swing to put some distance between them. The buildings blurred under the speed of the drop, and the attacker used the walls as a leverage to jump into a small park with no bystanders.

Sephiroth followed.

He put his weight to the next swing and with the velocity of the drop and the jump, the stranger should have been_ forced_ to his knees but somehow, impossibly, he _held_. But the sudden blast of energy whipped away the hood on the figure’s head, revealing blond spikes and angry eyes-

It was _Cloud._

Sephiroth barely widened his eyes when he _drowned _under the sudden flood of sensations. It was unlike the First Sight he experienced before with the blond, when it was _small candle lighting the darkness, quiet spark of wonder at the red blossoming under pale skin, the silently falling snow outside the labs, a kind, shy smile- _

Something strong like _hatred and fire_ burned under his skin, the blood _sang _in his veins, the gong of the war drums rumbling in his bones. It was _exhilaration _after the greatest of battles, it was the crushing _despair _after the lowest of betrayals. The sharp scent of leather, motor oil, and the metallic tang of blood on his lips, _good puppet-_

When he blinked again, he was crouching with the wicked sharp tip of the giant sword pressed to his neck, and _Cloud _poised over him with _blue _eyes burning with hatred. Masamune had fallen away from his grasp too far to reach, and Sephiroth suddenly struggled to breathe.

“How…”, he started but Cloud only angled the blade in wordless warning, drawing a line of blood.

Nevertheless, Sephiroth managed a small tilt of his lips.

“It’s good to see you, _Cloud._”

_That_ made the blond violently flinch away, and Sephiroth took the surprising moment of advantage to smoothly jump out of the sword’s reach and grab Masamune, standing up.

“After all this time, this is how you greet your-”

He didn’t get to finish either, because the _clang _of swords meeting again took priority. The blond came in with a vicious movement of left, down, up, cross-slash, and Sephiroth deflected them all, but when Cloud _split_ his sword he barely tipped Masamune to catch the secondary blade as well.

The deadly dance continued, with the blond using the burst of speed as the advantage to lash out and Sephiroth stopping the twin blades sometimes _too close for comfort_, the ring of metal against metal grating on his ears.

With a violent twist of his wrist, Sephiroth wrenched the smaller blade out of the blond’s hand, which it fell away with a loud clatter of metal against stone. The small victory didn’t last as Sephiroth was dodging a volley of shards of _ice_ that grew into _glaciers of all things _when hitting whatever surface they came into contact with.

Cloud retreated and not a second after, another blizzard whipped after Sephiroth, making him narrow his eyes to try to keep track of the elusive blond with the lowered visibility.

When the storm cleared, the park was empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am running out of written stuff, and I haven't written anything new ahhhhh  
Thank you all of you who left a kudos, comment, or bookmarked! I'm slow at responding the comments, but I love every single one of them! 
> 
> Didn't have time to edit, so let me know if something feels wonky.


	4. Chapter 4

Cloud wiggled inside the opened window of the bar, and doubled back out when First Tsurugi got stuck. After some careful tugging, pushing, and repositioning, he managed to come inside the room with only a small dent on the window.

“Cloud Strife, if I find you in your room with a destroyed window, you better have _Revive _ready for what I’m going to do.”

He stiffened when he heard Tifa’s quietly simmering voice from the stairs. Not a moment too soon, the door to the bedroom opened and Tifa entered with quiet anger coiled in her frame. The door shuddered when she slammed it shut, and Cloud tried to look at everything except the face of her childhood friend.

“Cloud. _What_ happened?”

“I…” He pursed his lips, and massaged the palm of his hand. He _wasn’t _supposed to meet Sephiroth, especially not after such a rattling encounter with-

“You were _filmed_, Cloud. Did you know? Now the entire _Midgard News 5 _is going crazy with the sudden revival of _Strife, the loved hero_ who for some reason, destroyed a park and _fought _Sephiroth!”

He was filmed? He had noticed a small crowd at the edge of the park, so he had done his best to take the fight further away from innocent bystanders. Sloppy of him to not have noticed, but then, he was actively trying to _not _skewer Sephiroth who seemed so… shaken.

“I know that you went to Reeve. And _Going recon. Meeting R. Be back in 3. _is not a good way of leaving messages! Back in three what, days? hours? weeks?” She crossed her arms, and pinned him with a glare. He averted his eyes in a guilty fashion.

“I’m sorry.”

While her anger didn’t abate, Tifa’s glare softened a bit. “I know.” She took a deep breath to calm herself.

“Then talk to me Cloud. What happened? Silence for a week and suddenly I catch a glimpse of you on the tv fighting. Nice of you to not kill him outright, though. Shiva knows that I would have had trouble pulling my punches.” She added.

He took a ragged breath, “I found Hojo.”

She looked concerned, and he shook his head. “Reeve told me in detail how this was a… parallel universe of sorts. Shinra never went into Mako energy business but instead it was a proto-monarchy. Oligarchy?” He was getting distracted. “And that… while many shared the same name and face to those of our world, their lives differed.”

Gaia, it was a shock to see the doctor trying to _protect_ Lucrecia, stammering something about not harming his _family _please, that he was only doing his job.

“He told me to take his life instead of his wife’s, Lucrecia.”

Cloud had hesitated in front of the first sign of _humanity_ in Hojo’s desperate eyes. His hatred and disgust towards the doctor never disappeared, it still _burned_, but…

His voice broke. “I… couldn’t do it.”

He hated himself in that moment. Logically, he knew that the Planet was better off without one of the major catalysts to its destruction, but after seeing a display of emotion other than sadistic glee or analytic indifference, something made him stay his hand.

“Oh, Cloud…”

This Hojo was not the monster that created other monsters. This Hojo was married, and _happily_ at that, if the wave of concern and fear on the eyes of Lucrecia for the doctor was anything to go by. _This_ Hojo was… _human_.

“So I ran from there, but not before Dr.Crescent threw something at me, which I deflected with the sword, but left a… trace.”

It was a jar of blood. Human blood? Animal blood? He wasn’t sure but the jar shattered against his sword and had drenched his pants and shoes.

And he met Sephiroth right after.

“He was right _there_. And I… overreacted.”

His meeting with Hojo ending in disaster, he had been too fueled by adrenaline and paranoia to stop and think. And when he saw the glimpse of silver hair, his body moved on autopilot. He had to get out, to escape, to be anywhere but _here_, and Sephiroth’s presence hadn’t helped at all. At least he knew that closed hallways were _not good _unless he wanted to level the entire building to the ground, so Cloud sidestepped a particularly heavy downward swing of the enemy’s sword instead of meeting it, and made for the courtyard down below.

“And when I was fighting him I noticed that _this _Sephiroth was different as well.”

Cloud never forgot the amount of _force_ that the duel between Sephiroth and him always created, so he should have seen his flimsy disguise failing at least a mile away. But he didn’t, so when Sephiroth _staggered _after locking eyes, he didn’t have it in his heart to just finish everything right there.

He promised Tifa to not kill him after all.

But the temptation was there and _oh so strong_, a swift stroke to the head and it would have solved _so many _problems. But he only held Sephiroth at swordpoint after he seemed to look at Cloud as both the most _terrible _and the most _beautiful_ _thing _in the planet that had happened to him.

Was this what Cloud had looked like when he had taken a look at Zack and had his… Sight?

He didn’t want to know. Especially now that he saw the expression of his worst enemy trying to…

Cloud shook himself out of his recollection, getting derailed again. Tifa waited patiently, still digesting what he told her so far.

“But the video… the fight didn’t end there. You used materia,” She said, looking pointedly at him at the last sentence.

He guiltily looked down, putting a hand on his bracer with the marbles still linked.

“The first words… He used the same _words_ as _him_. So I-”

Had been blinded by the sudden rush of fear that had gripped him. So he had lashed out, but the effort that Sephiroth seemed to put in behind the parrying strikes had jolted him out of his _adrenaline _pumped haze. Not as fast, or vicious, or cruel as-

_What _was he doing? No returning mortal enemies to the Lifestream today, he remembered.

So Cloud had to get away, but just with swordplay would have been hard. So a well-aimed Ice3 combined with Fire could create a blizzard storm that was similar to those that raged in Nibelheim during winter.

“I wasn’t seen by anyone on the way back, I’m certain,” he added almost as an afterthought.

She sighed, and rubbed her forehead nodding. “Well, the patrons of the bar on the first day talked for a while about someone dressed in black and a big sword dashing in upstairs, so we may have to move you soon.”

Cloud… had forgotten about that. He had been so rattled by the sight of Zack alive and healthy and _young_, he didn’t even try being subtle on his mad dash towards Tifa’s bar.

“Uh, Tifa? There are some men from… Shinra asking after you.”

An uncertain voice drifted past the door, and both Tifa and Cloud stiffened in alarm but she steadily replied, “Thank you, Essai. Will be back out soon.” When Cloud mouthed, _Essai?_ She just whispered back, _A regular patron. Is -was- one of the guards at Shinra. _

“Stay quiet!” she warned and he nodded. It was a given.

She closed the door behind her as she left, and Cloud stood and put his ear to the door. SOLDIER hearing was a blessing or a curse depending on the day, but it was useful as hell.

The voice of Tifa drifted through the metal door, soothing and unyielding.

“What can I help you with, gentlemen?”

A gruff voice grumbled back, “Not here for drinks. We got a report that a wanted fugitive was hiding around this area. Wears all black, ridiculous sword. Seen anyone?”

“Hmm, can’t say I’ve seen anyone like that. Do you have any other details?”

“We’re wasting our time, let’s go”, another nasal voice murmured in annoyance.

A heavy shuffle of footsteps, probably armored. “Well, he is short according to some… eyewitnesses. Wears a dark hood prowling on unsuspecting people. You should stay indoors and close the bar early, ma’am.”

“Were there any victims of this… ruffian?” Tifa asked.

“Just two shaken doctors. Luckily they were unharmed thanks to one of them scaring him away by fighting back.”

“Did they, now?” Cloud could picture Tifa raising an eyebrow, with a small smile at her lips.

“Well, according to their statement, she only threw whatever was nearby, which was a jar for blood transfusions. The perpetrator probably didn’t expect the innocent victims to resist, which is why he must have fled.” More shuffles of heavy feet, and a small clang of metal. Probably a sword hitting an armor while moving.

“Well, if you see anybody, please call the guards. We, the Shinra army will do the best to apprehend this weirdo!”

Cloud could _hear_ the amusement in Tifa’s reply. “I’m sure you will. Well, if you aren’t here to order any drinks, please leave. You are scaring my patrons, you see.” She added, steel wrapped in soft velvet.

“Hey, I don’t like your attitude.” It was the annoyed voice from before. “I think we should do a search in case she is aiding _him_, don’t you think?”

Another voice. “We wasted enough time, Clint. Let’s go.”

“No, no. Who is the leader of this scouting team? Me. And I think we should do a thorough search of this place! After all, there are some reports saying that the figure came_ here _to drink!”

Tifa’s voice hardened. “Gentlemen. Order or _get out_.”

“Fine, fine. We will do another check next time.”

The footsteps and the jangle of armor faded away, and Cloud let out an inaudible sigh. He needed to find other ways to at least find Jenova, but the news and the upped security meant that he would have trouble moving around.

Time for a new plan.

* * *

“Zack.”

He perked up from his sitting position, but couldn’t help the slight droop of shoulders. “Sorry, Seph. I went through the plates three times! Three! But… nothing but eyewitnesses.”

It was expected. The blond remained elusive even after the city wide search, and the fact that the lower plate citizens had anti-Shinra sentiments probably meant they hindered the investigations by giving out false leads.

“I mean, I did go through all the witnesses but they ended up being costume gig players, or just people with bizarre reports. Uh… I didn’t file them in the paperwork, but I could tell you if you are interested?” Zack scratched his head.

Sephiroth nodded his assent, but his mind was elsewhere. The _how_, _why_, _when_ questions wouldn’t leave his head. He should have said something else, not the asinine introduction. Or he should have stopped _fighting_ and should have talked to him. Properly.

But he was rattled. For some reason, he _couldn’t stop_ swinging Masamune at the quick blond, especially after the second Sight. There was a thrill singing in his veins, something that pushed him to do more, more, _more_.

“-so I went talking to Aerith and she told me that it was definitely possible that it was Spiky, since the voices of the Goddess were disquiet and-”

“Wait. Then this is an occurrence that has nothing to do with Her?”

“The Goddess? Nah. Aerith seems to be certain that even She doesn’t know what’s going on.” He stretched his arms over his head, and winced when there was a loud pop of bones. “Ouch, should have stretched after all that running.”

Sephiroth frowned. Strange and stranger indeed.

* * *

“Tifa! Another round of beer please!”

“Sure!”

Cloud sidestepped one of the waitresses coming behind the counter and stepped up to Tifa who was darting to and fro to mix a special cocktail. When she noticed him, she let out a small huff of surprise and amusement and whispered,

“_What_ are you doing here? I thought you were going to lay low!”

He shrugged under the unfamiliar weight of the maroon coat he was wearing and quirked her a small smile. The non-descript cap he found digging through the wardrobe squashed and hid his blond hair and the riding goggles concealed his eyes. “I’m going stir crazy. I’m just going to go out to take a breather.”

“Why didn’t you use the window like last time?”

“I-”

The door jangled open, and a _very _familiar voice greeted, “Tifa!! Could I have your strongest stuff?”

Cloud immediately dove down under the counter. Tifa looked panicked for a second until she mustered a cheery “Sure!” as an answer, and gave Cloud the AVALANCHE signal for ‘Time Limit: 3 minutes’ with her hands under the counter before stepping away.

Shit. He had to get out of here.

He rummaged through the cabinets under the counter, trying to find anything, _anything_ that would be a better disguise than the stupid hat and coat he was wearing, and he found the orange wig Tifa had worn some time ago along with the colourful pins he had used.

“Tifa! Another round here, please!” somebody shouted, and Tifa preparing different drinks with a deft hand answered back, “In a minute!”

Why hadn’t Tifa thrown them away? He wasn’t sure, but it was a small blessing and he wasn’t going to complain about it. He put it on, trying to hide his blond spikes under the mess of curls, and hastily clipped the pins to hold the fake bangs.

The waitress helping part time didn’t even glance at him when she rushed in to take the jugs and cups before hurrying out again.

“Could we have a Death Rider and a Playa del Sol?”

Cloud found the glittery high heels further back in the cabinet, and he quickly swapped out his boots for them. The maroon coat was long enough to reach his calf, and if he buttoned them up, he just looked like a harried worker who had come to drink. A burlesque dancer with bad costume, maybe.

That would have to do.

He emerged out of the counter with all the courage he could muster, and Tifa raked a quick glance at him before nodding imperceptibly and rushing to make another drink. He measured his steps so that it would look like he was tipsy, and made for the door.

Cloud almost jumped when he heard the “Wait!”

Nope, nope, nope, nope. He hurried his steps faster, barely avoiding a happy drunk who was stumbling on the way. The exit was just five steps away-!

The drunk behind him fell with a loud crash, and the upturned table flung all the drinks to the air and one of them _had _to land on Cloud’s coat. The man blurted out a flushed, “Sorry, miss-” and tried to mop away the wet mess away with his hands, Cloud shook his head and pushed him away a tad _too _forcefully, and another table toppled with the weight of the man going down onto it. He mouthed a small “Sorry!” and tried to run but a strong arm caught him in a hug around the shoulders and he went still. Cloud stiffened and side-eyed the new figure and it was-

_Zack_.

Cloud silently cursed his horrid luck, as the _one _person he was trying to avoid during the entire period was _right here_. What was the point of disguising oneself and avoiding detection if you were caught right before the exit?

Zack loudly declared, “Sorry miss! But I think you had too much to drink! I could escort you home, if you’d like.” Cloud tried to shake his head, without angling his face so that the Mako eyes hidden under the goggles would be visible, but Zack’s arm only tightened.

The black haired Soldier leaned in and whispered, “Spike. I’ve been your friend for almost 7 years. I_ know_ it’s you. Could we _please_ talk?”

Cloud remained immobile for a few seconds, but then he nodded stiffly. He could _feel_ Tifa’s worried stare on his back, so he surreptitiously put a hand behind his back and signaled,

‘Do not engage. Meet back ASAP.’

* * *

Cloud stumbled after Zack into one of the darker alleyways that the crappy streetlight didn’t cover, still feeling like his heart was going to leap out of his throat. The firm grip of Zack’s hand around his bicep didn’t hurt, but it didn’t budge even after Zack checked for the nth time that the entire alley was devoid of souls.

When he finally seemed satisfied, he let go and turned to Cloud with a grave expression.

“_Are_ you truly… here?”

Cloud’s heart broke when he heard the almost desperate note in his friend’s voice. He swallowed once, trying to dispel the lump in his throat that refused to budge.

“Please. After _everything_ I can’t-”

“Yes. I’m- I’m _here_.” Cloud managed out, his voice cracking on the last word unable to tear his gaze away from the face of _Zack_. He wanted to say, _You are here, alive, and well, and I- _

As he barely managed to finish those words, he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug and Cloud found himself returning the embrace twice as hard. He closed his eyes, feeling the rhythmic _thump thump thump _of a heart that at this point, wasn’t sure whose it was. Just for a moment, just for an infinite stretch of a second, Cloud let himself relax.

Not lost in memories, or regrets, or guilt.

He lost count of time, wishing he could prolong this moment forever lost in a daydream of a life that never could _be_. The Zack he knew was _dead_. This wasn’t him, despite the uncanny similarities, the voice, the scent, the smile- He had to go _back, _he promised-

Cloud opened his mouth and with a weak voice managed out, “Zack. I… I’m not-”

He tried to step back from the the taller SOLDIER but he just tightened the hug, unwilling to let the blond continue and Cloud just nodded.

Just a few more minutes.

A few more minutes to relish on a moment that was 3 years too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has reached 250 kudos??!!! Holy crap????? Thank you all for liking this fic so much! I'm really flattered ajiejkdsll;akalkd
> 
> But now for the sad news: I have officially only 1 chapter left to post. I thought I could balance writing with my job, but it has proven to be almost impossible. (I am a really slow writer, about 150-350 words per hour, and sometimes even less) So, probably after next week this fic will slow down a lot regarding its updating time. (This is why I only wrote short fics before hahaha)
> 
> Still, I'm not planning on abandoning the fic (I like it too much to let it die) but just a heads up that it might take a while to update after the last chapter is posted. 
> 
> Thank you again for liking this fic, for all the kudos, bookmarks, and comments!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up: some mild descriptions of anxiety, intrusive thoughts (nothing self-harm related)

“Seph!! Seph!!”

Sephiroth sighed and quickened his strides, unwilling to get caught by Lt. Fair on a public hallway, where everybody within earshot would eavesdrop to whatever nugget of information the bouncy man had to share.

“I found _him_!”

_That _stopped the silver haired man dead in his tracks, and gave his subordinate a warning glance. “A word, Lieutenant.”

Zack straightened at his words with a sheepish smile and followed Sephiroth into the closest meeting room that had sound proofed walls. The black haired man turned on the light switch, and locked the doors for extra security while Sephiroth picked the furthest point in the room from the windows or the vent.

With the current state of affairs, the walls had ears and eyes. Better to be safe than sorry.

When Zack finished checking, he sat down on one of the chairs laying down the Buster Sword on the table with care. He took a breath, and said again “I found him.”

“Who did you find?”

“Cloud! And before you ask, no it’s not an impostor, not a party cosplayer, or, or, a dead ghost!” Zack finished, flapping his hands with excitement.

“He really, _really _is back!”

Sephiroth looked away, unwilling to see Zack so relieved and happy about a dead lead. And yet, something painful and small curled and blossomed in his chest, something akin to _hope_-

“Seph. I swear on the Goddess and on my honor as SOLDIER. I wouldn’t lie about this.”

The General looked back at his subordinate, who had lost all traces of excitement. He had his hands fisted on his pants, back ramrod straight and not a trace of a joke in his usually carefree countenance.

“I know he is your First One, but he was my friend as well.” The last part of the sentence was more subdued as usual.

When Sephiroth didn’t reply, Zack sprang up from his seat and started pacing restlessly. “Okay, I’ll just- I need to get it out of my system so interrupt me whenever, ‘kay?” He ran a hand over his black spikes. “I went down to one of my favourite bars, not the one with cheap drinks but the one on the lower levels of the Sector 2 plate, cuz’ I was _tired _after the useless search that didn’t result on Cloud magically appearing from y’know, the hands of the Goddess after Aerith told me that it might be possible since everything was slightly wonky-”

“Zack. Focus.”

“Oh! Right, sorry. Yeah. Uhh, where was I? Right! The bar.” Zack took another deep breath before starting again. “Well, I was there to just try to relax and meet other sympathetic ears that would swap happier stories, and it’s Friday night so the bar is _packed_ with people like me and the bar owner who is really awesome by the way was literally running everywhere with a new hired part timer, I guess. Didn’t see her before and-”

When Zack noticed the General raising an eyebrow, he backtracked. “Uh, I don’t go drinking _all _the time, just this week… or the week before that, but anyway! Listen. _Another _part timer just appears from behind the counter who seemed somewhat tipsy and I was thinking, _hey! She doesn’t seem too reliable since she is drinking on the job wearing killer heels_, and another drunk dude just spills his entire drink on her coat and she pushes him _hard _and he falls onto another table, and get this-”

Zack ran a hand over his hair again as a nervous gesture and sighed. “She has _glowing _eyes under the goggles.”

“Zack, that’s inconclusive-”

“Yeah, I know!” He raised his hands apologetically when he noticed he had cut off his commanding officer with his outburst and continued with a smaller voice, “I get close to her, and when I grab her to help her with her balance, I had a Sight. Not a new one, not Aerith’s because she is my First, but Cloud’s.” Sephiroth could _hear _the unsaid ‘Second’ that Zack left out in his sentence.

The General narrowed his eyes, and Zack looked down, fiddling with his hands. “I never told you cuz’ I know that Cloud was your First, and it was too late to...” The Lieutenant shook his head and put on another sunny smile that Sephiroth saw right through.

The plate drop. Strife had _departed_. There would have been _nothing _to say that wouldn't have widened the _wound _that Strife's void had left behind.

Zack cleared his throat. “Anyway! I _knew _it was him, so I dragged him outside where there would be no prying eyes and ask, _are you truly here_, and he says yes! He looks older for some reason, maybe Time flows differently under the hand of the Goddess but it’s really him.”

He was silent for a moment before adding in a small voice, “He really came back to _us_.”

Sephiroth momentarily closed his eyes to center himself. If Strife was truly back, Midgard, -especially the lower plates- would rejoice and the divided plates would be easier to unify and rally under the banner of Shinra, once Rufus was ready to receive the mantle back. However, it would create a whole new batch of problems, mainly _dealing _with the still disgruntled lower plate denizens who almost were wiped out due to the orders of Shinra Sr. _and _the fact that Cloud apparently hated him on sight now.

His hand tingled whenever he thought back on the powerful swings of the blond’s sword that left his arm jarring.

But was there any other choice?

Suffering the hatred of someone he cared about was a small price to pay if he wanted _him_ back in his life. Sephiroth wasn’t going to pry regarding the _how's _and _why’s _but this time, he would _never_ let go.

Not after the loss of his two best friends by a _Shinra _mistake. Not after the sheer rage and despair that swept over him when he dug out the broken body of the blond out of the destruction _ordered _by Shinra.

The leather gloves creaked when he tightened his hands. Shinra Jr. had _very _big shoes to fill, if he didn’t want to end up like his father.

His voice was even and gave nothing away when he ordered, “Do _not _go around spreading that information,” and Zack saluted with uncharacteristic gravity as well. However, it didn’t last long since he noticed the Lieutenant practically bouncing on his feet, regardless of the part warning part order he just gave out.

“Do you need to be somewhere?”

Zack carefully re-slung the Buster Sword to his back gave gave Sephiroth a smile that looked more real than the previous one. “I actually am going to meet him tomorrow again. I made him promise to come and meet Aerith as well, and… y’know. See what he knows about…” he trailed off and gave him a slightly strangled laughter.

“Returning from the hands of the Goddess?” Sephiroth asked, finishing the dark haired man’s sentence.

“...Yeah, I guess. I mean, it’s not everyday when you realize you have been granted a second chance by Her, right?”

When Sephiroth didn’t answer, Zack just flashed him a smaller smile in understanding, and turned to leave. “Well, Seph. I’ll let you know the details! Hopefully I’ll convince him to come to the upper plates. He seemed so… _spooked _by the idea, you know?”

With those words, he gave Sephiroth a sloppy salute and headed out of the meeting room looking happier as the door closed behind him.

After a long silence, Sephiroth closed his eyes and quirked his lips.

“A second chance...”

* * *

Zack drummed his fingers impatiently on his legs, until he realized what he was doing and started doing squats in order to dispel the tension he was feeling. He didn’t feel like this even when he had to pass the SOLDIER exams!

But he had refused to leave Cloud unless he got a promise from him to meet him back. So the blond had relented with a small slump of shoulders, and now Zack was only 20 minutes early to the meeting place! He hoped Aerith could soothe his overly skittish friend with her awesome charms, and hopefully get some straight answers out.

He was in his 34th squat when the heavy footsteps greeted his ears and he immediately shot up from his position to smile broadly to his _not departed!_ friend who was warily looking at the Shinra guards posted around the Temple of the Goddess.

“Hey Spiky!”

The blond jerked his head up and his stoic mask cracked for a tiny second to let a small smile that _illuminated_ his face, until it disappeared as soon as it appeared.

“I think I spied a _smile_! I think it’s my lucky day!”

Cloud lightly punched him in the arm, and Zack felt his grin widening further.

“Don’t make such a big deal out of it,” the blond said and Zack just nodded to go along with him.

Seriously, he felt like he was eighteen again, all enthusiasm and bubbling happiness! Not that he wasn’t enthusiastic or happy now, but he liked to think he grew up and matured juuust a bit more.

“Anyway, are you ready to meet the brightest, sunniest, most charming person in the whole planet?”

Cloud gave him another small smile. “Are you talking about yourself now, Zack?”

“Awwww, spiky! I didn’t know you thought about me that way!” he winked and Cloud gave a tiny huff of laughter before shaking his head. Zack clutched his chest and stumbled, “Ohh, here lies Zack Fair, mortally wounded by the harshness of his best friend!”

The blond stiffened at that, and Zack immediately dropped his act to approach him with concern. Stupid, stupid of him for not being more alert! Cloud was recently _departed_ and brought back, so obviously any of his jokes regarding death wouldn’t be taken lightly!

Zack plastered a bright smile before tugging his friend up the stairs into the temple, hoping he hadn’t shaken Cloud too badly.

“Sorry about that, spike! That was a _terrible _joke, please please please forgive me?” He put his palms together and gave him his best ‘puppy face’ as Angeal used to call it whenever he tried to sneak out of practice.

At that, his friend just gave a small sigh and shook his head with a small curl of his lips. Yes! Success!

“Just got lost for a moment, Zack. Don’t worry.”

“Well, you know spiky, I always want to make you feel totally comfy and awesome, so whenever I see you being all sad and frowny it makes me want to squeeze all that Cloudy-ness away so that you can feel more at ease with everything!”

Cloud gave him a tiny tilt of lips, and Zack felt immediately better.

“Anyway, this is the Temple of the Goddess! You remember, right? We got your first amulet blessed here!”

His friend frowned lightly, and had his sad pouty face again. “No, sorry. I don’t think I’ve seen this place before.”

Zack was worried, but he buried it under ‘Zack’s lockbox of things to think about later’ and gave Cloud an exaggerated shrug. “Aw, Spike! I used my first paycheck on your amulet! I still have mine, see?” He rummaged through his pockets and brought out a dingy copper one filled with tassels and bells and showed it to Cloud.

When the blond examined it with interest, Zack felt a glimmer of hope again. “I actually got both of us the same amulet of protection, y’know? Since we are both soldiers, I wanted us to remain safe during Shinra’s crazy wild campaign through the wastelands since we were in different divisions, and-”

Zack cut himself off when somewhere in his mind something bitter like curdled milk whispered, _Good fat it did to you, Spike. You were killed not by Junon rebels but by the very king we had sworn to serve- _

Woah, easy there myself.

He realized Cloud was looking at him with worry, so he brightened and clapped a hand to his shoulder. Goddess, he _missed _Cloud!

“We should buy you a new amulet, a bigger, a more expensive one that has plenty of magic this time! If you can’t remember, we’ll make this one your first one again!!”

The worry in Cloud’s frown didn’t ease but thankfully Spike didn’t press the issue either.

“Whatever you want, Zack.”

“There we go!”

If Cloud didn’t remember the Temple, then he was _bound _to be amazed by its interior. Yeah, it didn’t look like much from the outside since it was just a slab of clay coloured rectangular thing, but once inside?

Daaaaamn.

It would definitely leave an impression on Cloud, and Zack hoped it would jiggle any memory that remained within his friend during his travels back from the hands of the Goddess.

Cloud stopped short in front of the main court, and his eyes widened. His voice was breathless and small when he asked, “Is… Is that _Aerith_?”

Zack whipped his eyes back on his friend, alarmed. He had never introduced Aerith before, and the fact that his friend didn’t remember vital things but could recognize others he should have _never _met before was _very _disturbing.

Maybe as a spirit he could see more of the world? Or see other souls of people? Or maybe something _definitely _went wrong when he journeyed back from being departed, and _that_ was the reason why Cloud fled from everything that should have been familiar and comforting, and, and-

Focus, Zack.

Right, he could dwell on this later, now he had a friend to introduce back to the realm of the living. Still, worry curled in his gut like the rotten cheese he had three months ago and refused to budge.

He had to be strong. He couldn’t let his stupid worries from spooking Cloud away.

“You know Cloud, if you already met Aerith then this will make my job easier! Wait here,” Zack didn’t wait for the blond’s reply and crossed the court with big strides calling in a sing song voice, “Aeeeeerith!! Guess who I brought with me today!!”

Her giggles made the rotten cheese in the gut disappear somewhat and Zack felt his smiles turning more natural. She called back, “Is it your skittish friend?”

“Got it in one!”

Zack jumped over the decorative statuettes of the Goddess, _sorry please forgive my rude jumping over,_ to reach his beautiful girlfriend, and he twirled her in the air when he was close enough to hug her.

“Zack! I’m still on duty! Put me down, you silly oaf!” She jokingly admonished him patting his black spikes, and he could only smile brighter.

Goddess bless him, Zack wasn’t sure what he did in his past life to have someone as wonderful as Aerith in his life.

“Zack? Aren’t you forgetting someone?” her smile was fondly exasperated and he immediately turned to frantically wave his arms to his friend. Right! He couldn’t believe he got so easily distracted!

“Clooooooud! Heeeeey! Come over here!!”

He stopped waving when he realized his friend didn’t move at all. In fact, he looked like he didn’t even hear him! He looked down at Aerith who was also looking concerned, and they walked to the entrance of the court where his blond friend was _still _petrified over.

“Hey, you okay in there?” Zack gently patted Cloud on his shoulder, and the blond startled so violently he immediately held his hands back to show his friend he meant no harm. “Woah, there spiky! You doing okay? We can always come back later, if you want to.”

“S-sorry Zack. You just startled me,” his friend managed out, and Zack put on his reassuring face seeing from the corner of his eyes Aerith doing the same.

She gently approached Cloud and gave him a small flower. Cloud just looked like he was seeing the _Goddess _herself, with how his eyes had gone wide and carefully grasped the white fragrant lily.

For just a second, Zack saw the image of his dead friend immortalized in the bronze statue transposed with his current friend. The ethereal atmosphere, the single white flower in his hand, the sword at his back...

Cloud truly was _back_.

His heart swelled, and Zack had to turn back for a second to prevent the two of his most favorite persons seeing him like this.

“Zack?”

“Heh, just... Gimme a second. Got something in my eye, y'know?”

C'mon Fair. You got through the gruesome training and became SOLDIER. You helped Angeal find his peace. You went through a lot of stuff. Get yourself together!

When Zack turned back again, both Aerith and Cloud were looking at him with concern. His previous worries melted away, and Zack couldn't stop himself from flinging his arms around them. Cloud stiffened under his hug, but he only tightened his hold on him, just as Aerith returned the hug with a knowing smile with just as much energy.

Finally, Cloud raised his arms to hug Zack and Aerith as well, and in this moment his heart felt _complete. _

_Goddess, _ he loved them. He loved them so _much _ and finally he felt like he was complete, and they were all _here_, Aerith with her vibrant green eyes, understanding smiles, her endless love, and Cloud, with his electric blue eyes, soft, kind smiles, and his boundless love, and Zack's heart couldn't keep up with how much he loved them.

“I, just, heh. I'm _really _glad, you know? I can't believe how... _miraculous _this feels right now. So, can we stay like this for a bit longer?”

He could hear Aerith's smile when she said, “Oh, you silly! We can stay like this as long as you'd like!”

Cloud only tightened the hug as a response.

Zack closed his eyes, willing to savor every single second of this Goddess given gift.

“Thank you,” he whispered to nobody.

_Thank you, _somebody murmured back.

* * *

Cloud felt like he was walking on air. He couldn't believe his eyes, and couldn't believe them now, not after all the hallucinations, visions from the Lifestream, but the arms around him told a _very _different story.

They were real.

And _here_.

The

warmth in his chest continued even after they stopped hugging, and Cloud felt at peace for the first time since he came to this strange, parallel world. Even if this was part of a collective hallucination, even if this was some kind of strange construct that his dreaming mind had conjured up, then he was glad that he was in here, even if it was for a brief period.

“What's wrong, Cloud? You look like you are a bit... Cloudy!” Zack added, a carefree grin in his face. Aerith giggled and lightly swatted her boyfriend's arm, chiding softly, “Leave him alone, you oaf! He is just lost in his own world. Let him return to us in his own time!”

Cloud startled. “How do... do you know that I'm-” -_not the Cloud you think you know, I'm from a different place- _

Aerith just smiled secretively and opened her arms again. When Cloud only blinked as a response, Zack jumped in again to hug them both enthusiastically. “What's this? Cloud is _drifting_?” He waggled his eyebrows and the brunette giggled and swatted his arm again playfully, while Cloud twitched.

“Let go, you silly! You had enough hugs for today!” She chided lightheartedly, and Zack let them go with a small pout. “Aww, but you can never get enough hugs! Right Cloud?”

He remained silent.

“Aww, c'mon Cloud!”

Cloud finally cracked a small smile, and Zack brightened immediately. Aerith smoothed out the flower petals and leafs that had gotten tangled in her boyfriend's hair and giggled at their antics.

“But seriously, do you know-”

Aerith poked Cloud's forehead lightly, startling him out of his worried frown. “You must be so confused, but all will be revealed in due time. It's not as if worrying about it right now will solve all of your questions!”

Zack ruffled Cloud's hair, and he ducked out of it grumbling slightly. “Exactly, Spiky! No need to worry about the small stuff! You are here, and that's what matters, right?”

Cloud's frown didn't disappear completely, but it alleviated a little bit. “I... guess.” Zack and Aerith shared a smile at his response, and she reached out to gently tuck his blond locks behind his ear.

“It must have been a harsh journey.”

“I-” His chest felt tight, but his voice was steady when he said, “It's okay.”

He truly was. He and his friends had come a long way. Had fought and lost and fought again to be where they were right now, and finally life was... peaceful. There wasn't any world ending threats, no insidious paramilitary branches slithering out of the shadows, no underlying conspiracies to break the balance of nature.

Or at least, it _was _peaceful on the Planet. Only the goddess knew _what _was going on here in this bizarre mirror-like world.

Cloud met Aerith and Zack's worried gaze without flinching, and gave them a small smile. They returned it immediately as well but their concerns lingered in their eyes.

“It's okay. It will be. _We _will be.”

Aerith was about to say something back, but her words were interrupted by an excited cry of, “Priestess!”

The trio snapped their heads to see a young girl running as fast as her legs could take her, carefully weaving in between the paths of flowers in order to not trample on the blossoms. When she was close enough, Aerith spread her arms and the girl enthusiastically launched herself at the Priestess, squealing in delight.

“What is it, Marin?”

“Oh! Right!” The girl stepped away from Aerith and suddenly looked uncertain.

Cloud had to blink at the small girl, who looked just like Marlene back when she was four years old. Did that mean that Barret's counterpart was here in Midgard? Or maybe Dyne had moved into Midgard after leaving Corel? But Shinra never went into the Mako business in this world, so the accident wouldn't have happened. This parallel world was giving him a headache regarding the timelines.

Marin carefully patted a pocket and withdrew a small bird and held it out towards Aerith with a trembling lip. “I... found it like this on the way here, and it looks so small. Can the Goddess...?” She trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

Aerith crouched down to keep eye level with the still trembling kid, and gently placed her hands on top of the bird. When Marin looked up with hopeful eyes, she winked back. There was a bright green glow that gently enveloped their hands, and when she withdrew hers the immobile bird was chirping back, making Marin break out in a wondrous grin. The bird chirped again, and fluttered away in a flutter of small wings.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you Priestess Aerith!!” She squealed in delight watching the bird go, but stopped when she noticed the two other figures next to the Priestess. When Aerith noticed her sudden hesitance, she gave her a kind smile and gently caressed her head.

“I've never introduced them properly, right? They are Zack and Cloud, my friends. Would you like to say hi? It's okay if you don't want to. They look very scary at the beginning with their big swords, but they are very soft and silly!”

At her introduction, Zack immediately crouched down and pulled a silly face, making Marin laugh. Cloud stood frozen, unable to move forward to make the girl laugh, but also unable to step away from the situation. When she turned to him, the only thing he could manage was a soft smile, his heart warming at the sight of the younger version of his adopted family back in Edge.

She shyly smiled back until her eyes widened with surprise. “You are the man at the square! My dad leaves flowers by your statue.”

Cloud tried to deny, but Zack beat him to the punch. Slinging an arm across his shoulders with a sunny smile, he said, “He really looks like him, right?”

Cloud glared at his friend, and after seeing his expression Zack added in, “But he is on a super important and secret mission, so you can't ask him any questions, or tell anybody about it. Okay?”

Marin nodded solemnly, and put her fist against her chest, then her knuckles against her forehead. Zack repeated the motion after letting go Cloud's shoulder.

“I won't ask you anything. I won't tell anybody anything either.” Marin promised, looking at Cloud who was still transfixedly looking at the kid. He just nodded back, and replied, “Thanks.”

He decided to keep his hood up at _all_ times, in case somebody else recognized him. He was grateful it was Marlene, -_Marin-, _who stumbled upon them, and not a Shinra guard or some other believer who would have screamed his name for everybody to hear.

Marin said brightly, “Next time my dad brings flowers to your statue, I'll just bring them to you. I won't say anything. No worries!”

Zack crouched down at Marin's eye level and ruffled her hair. “That's really nice of you! But my buddy here is a very scaredy-cat, so he might not be around here all the time.” After seeing her disappointed expression, he backtracked and hastily added, “But! If you bring them to me or Priestess Aerith here, we'll make sure we give it to him!”

Marin smiled and nodded enthusiastically, and placed her index finger to her lips to say, “Shhh! Keep it a secret to my dad, okay?”

Zack repeated the kid's motion, and they both broke out in secretive grins. Marin gave Cloud's legs a quick hug before he could do anything, and pulled out a single gil from her pockets to give it to Aerith, which she accepted with a kind smile.

“Thank you priestess! Here is my donation for the Temple. May the Goddess watch our day!”

Aerith replied, “May the Goddess watch our night. Have a safe trip home!”

Marin waved back enthusiastically as she ran back towards the exit of the Temple. The three of them watched her go with a smile, until Zack clapped his hands once and placed them behind his head.

Turning towards Cloud, he asked, “So! Cloudy, where have you been staying? You can always crash at my place if you don't have anywhere to stay, y'know?”

Cloud shook his head. “Thank you, but it's fine. I've been staying with a friend.” He looked away, slightly uncomfortable with the worried scrutiny of his friend. Aerith gently placed a hand in his arm, and he had to look at her.

“Would you mind if I gave you a rejuvenating prayer? All weary souls who come here can get one, and I think you might need one.” Seeing his hesitance, she added, “Please?”

He could never deny her. Not in the past, not here, not ever. So he just nodded, and tried not to squirm as she clasped her hands together in a _very _familiar motion that had him remembering the final moments before Sephiroth-

Stop.

She noticed his discomfort and gently placed her hands around his head, and Cloud crouched down slightly to make it easier for her. He could feel the tingle of her magic soothing the aches he didn't know he had, settling a disquiet part of his mind that always was on high alert.

When she stepped back, Cloud slowly opened his eyes marveling at the fact that he had experienced Aerith's magic again, after so, _so _long.

As Zack has said before, it _truly _felt like a miracle. To have them both here. To see them perfectly fine and unharmed.

Whatever expression he was wearing made them smile, and Aerith said, “There you go! A special prayer for a special person!”

Zack gave her a grateful grin and ruffled Cloud's hair, ignoring his slightly annoyed expression.

“Thank you priestess! Oh, before I forget-” He rummaged through his pockets to pull out his copper amulet out. “Spike here got his first amulet, but could we get another one? This time for _extra _protection! We won't be stingy with the donations either, heh.”

Something _dark _passed through his friend's eyes when he said those words, but Cloud chose not to comment. He felt guilty for not being able to share whatever experiences _this _world's Cloud had gone through with Zack, even if that guilt was misplaced.

He had to tell them now. That he wasn't the Cloud they expected or knew before another word left unsaid left wounds or misunderstandings.

“Guys, I-”

“Nope! Don't worry Cloud, I'll pay for everything, so you don't have to say anything. And you know it's bad luck to refuse a gift before it's given! So I'm not listening!”

“No, Zack. It's not that, it's just-”

Aerith chimed in, “Zack, maybe we should listen before deciding? After all, a rejected gift is also bad luck for the gift-giver!”

He deflated. “You are right as always Aerith. Sorry, Spike. Got too ahead of myself there!”

Cloud sent Aerith a nod filled with gratitude, and Aerith smiled back. “I... I am not who you think I am.”

They just blinked. Cloud steeled himself. “I'm... not from here. This world, I mean.”

Zack immediately scanned him with an almost laser-like focus, and Aerith tilted her head inquisitively. His friend piped up, “Do, Do you mean how you have...” He helplessly glanced at Aerith for help, and she spoke up in his stead. “Cloud, you have returned from the hands of the Goddess.” Zack shot Aerith an alarmed look but she paid him no mind.

Hand of the Goddess? Was this an idiom of _this _world regarding dimension travel?

She continued, “It's natural that you don't feel like you belong here. But, this is your second chance, granted by the Goddess herself, don't you think?”

Gaia, it truly felt like it. He selfishly wanted to stay here to see them for longer, to see them happy and see their own futures unfold, but he couldn't.

He _couldn't_.

He had a promise to keep, not only to Tifa but to Cid, Reeve, and everybody back on Gaia. He wouldn't be able to look at them in the eye ever again if he decided to follow the two people who became his biggest regrets in his life, even if it tore at his heart. Since Cloud could see that they were _here, _and perfectly alive and happy, it _had _to be enough for him.

It had to.

He couldn't look at them. “I... _can't _stay.”

Zack looked heartbroken, and Aerith laid a hand on each of their arms. Her touch grounded Cloud, and by Zack's expression, he seemed comforted as well. She turned to him and asked, “Is there a reason you can't tell us? I am a priestess, so if it's a matter concerning your spiritual journey here, then I can help.”

His heart ached at her earnest expression, and his traitorous mind kept whispering that she truly could, but-

Cloud shook his head. “It's not that. It's just... some people are waiting for me. I promised to get all of us back. So-”

“Wait, so there are more people who have returned from the hand of the Goddess?” Zack asked, perking up. “Why isn't this a bigger news? Wait, is this related to the reason why you didn't want to see me or you fought against Seph or why you kept hiding yourself? Because if that's the case, we should take a breather and kind of wait before making any rash decisions and-”

Aerith grasped Zack's hands and he inhaled deeply. “Sorry, Aerith. Uh, thanks. I needed that.”

She pinned them both with her unwavering gaze and said, “I think we all need to just take a step back and breathe. It has been a harrowing day, hasn't it? Why don't we... hmm. Meet back in three days and decide where to go from there?”

Cloud met Zack's panicked eyes and his determination wavered.

Three days.

He could do this. He could tell them everythin then, when Zack wasn't looking as terrible as he seemed now, -_and wasn't that his fault since the beginning? Always hurting others, stupid- _and he could clarify everything. Say the last good-bye to them, and he could notify Tifa, Cid, and Reeve that he would make his way to Cosmo Canyon and try to establish a contact with the scientists of WRO of his original world. If things came to the worst, he could always try to jump into a crack in the Lifestream that pooled out into the surface to see if it took him back. The Lifestream always seemed to spit him back out wherever it was most convenient, but if even that didn't work, then he would... just wing it.

Most of his ridiculous plans that ended up working were made on the go anyways.

His mind set, Cloud nodded resolutely. “Three days. I'll... come back and I'll tell you everything. To both of you. You...” He swallowed once, “You deserve the closure.”

Cloud turned and walked away.

He couldn't see the anguish on his friend's face and the worried gaze of Aerith any more. He wasn't who they expected to be, and he couldn't _be _someone else. Not anymore.

It wouldn't be fair to either of them, and it wouldn't be fair to himself either.

* * *

When Cloud's footsteps faded away, Zack turned his eyes towards his girlfriend. She had to see how _weird _Cloud was being, right? Right?

His friend wasn't suicidal, Zack was sure. Cloud had too much fight in his soul to just decide that he had to return to the hand of the Goddess so soon! And with others to boot!

Was Cloud in some sort of suicide-cult without his knowing? That sounded bad. 'Behemoth in the city' levels of bad, and Zack wasn't sure he could shake his friend out of this cult, or, or-

“Zack, breathe with me. It's okay. You are here.” Aerith's voice derailed his wild train of thoughts, and he took in another deep breath. Hoo, boy. He was a wreck today, wasn't he?

He mussed his hair, and gave her a grateful smile.

Aerith led him to one of the praying benches and Zack sat down on it, feeling like he had run a Plate wide marathon without a break. Why was he feeling like this?

“Drink,” She handed him a small vial of the water from the center of the Temple's pond, and Zack drank it greedily, coughing once or twice when it went down the wrong way. She patted his back to ease his discomfort, and he grinned weakly when the cough subsided.

Seriously, his meeting with Cloud and Aerith aside, everything _else _was going weirdly or badly.

“So, uh, what did you think of my friend? Did you find anything...?” -_Strange, weird, or spooky- “_Noteworthy?”

Aerith put a hand under her chin, thinking. “When I perfomed my prayer, I could feel... magic.” She hummed. “Yes, I think it was magic.”

Zack blinked. “On Cloudy?”

She shook her head. “No, _in _him. I haven't felt magic that deep since... Well, I'm not certain when, actually. The only thing I can compare it to is the priestesses' magic pool, but I've never seen one in someone who is _not_ a priestess.”

“Wait, so are you saying that Cloudy might be able to perform miracles, just like you?”

“I think he has already. The 'Memory Square miracle' that you described to me sounds exactly like a priestess' magic, you know?”

Zack huffed in laughter. “That? That was just a silly report that I found on Seph's desk, and I thought it would be funny to share it with you! That can't have been Cloud... Right?”

He had chalked it up as a creative and probably drunk guard's daily report, but seeing Aerith's contemplative face made him rethink his initial assessment of the report. Had it been Spiky? The report detailed only two women who were found 'suspicious', but that could have been an accidental miracle mishap with a trainee priestess, right?

But he had found out Cloud by accident as well. He was crossdressing to disguise himself, so could Cloud actually have been one of the 'woman' in the report? Could it?

It was definitely possible, but if that's the case, wouldn't it mean that Cloud could have been back even earlier but never bothered to reveal himself to Zack?

He felt a pang at the last thought.

Get it together Zack Fair! They were just wild theories. He couldn't feel betrayed if it didn't actually happen, so it was pointless to speculate like this. He would go and give Seph his ideas, they could brainstorm together regarding how to pull Spike out of this weird cult, and Aerith could help Cloud get used to the land of the living again!

Perfect!

“I can see you thinking, Zack.” Aerith teased good-naturedly, and his grin came a little bit easier.

He just envelped her in one of his 'Zack's warm hugs' and buried his face on her hair. She carried the scent of fragrant wild flowers and summer rain, and he could feel himself relaxing. Aerith stroked the back of his hair, probably smiling.

“I was thinking about how to change Cloud's mind. Regarding the whole 'returning back', I guess. I haven't seen him in so long, and hearing him saying that he had to go back to the Goddess was...” -_Terrifying? Heartbreaking? Something Zack would absolutely stop his friend from doing?- _Zack couldn't decide on a word, so he settled with, “...bad.”

Zack stopped hugging her and stared at the best priestess in the entire world. She looked back with concern and understanding, and gently placed a palm on his cheek.

“Just bad?”

“Yeah. Bad.”

Aerith brushed his bangs out of his face, and smiled beatifically. “Then, we just have to make sure that things won't turn out badly next time. We can always keep trying. Right? We will reach your friend.” Zack grinned back, already feeling in high spirits again.

She looked at the gigantic Goddess statue carved on the wall with a contemplative expression and said, “After all, it can't have been coincidence that he has been led back here, right where he was needed the most, right?”

Zack nodded. She was absolutely right! The people of the lower plates always liked Spike for his stubborn attitude that was always appreciated especially down in the slums, but after the whole plate fall, the entire lower plate sentiment had turned almost into a martyr-worship.

The people of the lower plates yearned for Cloud to be back to fight for those who weren't listened to. And the Goddess had listened.

Kind of.

Only if he could convice Cloud that he _couldn't _return to the Hand of the Goddess! But what to do, what to do...

Right! There was another thing niggled at the back of his mind. “Also... Cloud used to have green eyes before he... departed. But now he has super blue eyes. Is that... normal?”

Aerith's eyes warmed with sympathy. “It is uncommon, but sometimes when even priestesses couldn't save those too far gone, the patients would return miraculously from the hand of the Goddess. They would just... wake up as if nothing happened.” She took a deep breath, and held his hands in hers, lightly running her thumbs over his callouses. “But sometimes, their personalities changed, or they lost part of themselves during their way back here so they couldn't remember their loved ones, family, or even about themselves.”

“They lost their memories or changed personalities?”

“Yes, basically.”

Was that what happened to Cloudy as well? He _looked _different. He seemed more withdrawn, less outspoken, more... _paranoid_, and if he couldn't remember crucial stuff because of his entire trip to Life, and if _that _was the reason he wanted to... to... _depart _like this, then...

Then he would help Cloud make new memories. Give him a reason to want to _Live_.

When he looked at Aerith, she had a determined smile as well, probably having reached the same conclusion. They broke out in identical grins, and Zack couldn't help but to feel _hope_ again.

But first, he would need some extra help convincing his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 300 kudos??!! You guys really flatter me aaaaahh Thank youuuu  
So here is a slightly longer chapter! I might come back and edit this again, since it feels a bit rushed, but I didn't want to leave you all hanging.
> 
> And now I officially have no chapters left (; _ ;) I have scenes but not a full chapter ready, so... yes. This fic will update really erratically now.
> 
> Still, thank you all who left kudos, bookmarks, and comments! Hope you'll keep liking this fic, and (hopefully), see you soon! (-ish)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for somewhat graphic description of injuries. And Cid's swearing. And Sephiroth.

* * *

The first words that Cid greeted him with was, “So, how's your notorious life treating you so far?”

Cloud shrugged, until he realized that Cid was working on something behind the counter and couldn't see him, so he just grunted out, “Just like the old days.”

There was a loud _clang! _And Cid cursed under his breath and poked his head out from behind the counter. “Come and help out, you spiky ass! If I'm gonna play therapist then the least you could do is hold this stupid piece of metal in place before I weld my own hand to it!”

Cloud wordlessly made his way behind the counter and crouched down to see what Cid was working on. The pilot noticed him looming, and munched on his unlit cigarette, moving away so that the younger man could see.

“Is that... a propeller?”

Cid scowled, and fished out a lighter from his pockets. “Told you before there were no airships in this Planet-loving place, yeah? And as you can see,” he gestured at the cluttered space of a shop, “not enough space to build my own airship here. So I've been building small components and smugglin' them out into the Wastes, where I've been trying to build something piece by piece.”

He lit the cigarette, took a deep drag and exhaled like a particularly cranky Nibel dragon.

“Slow goin', almost impossible, and with the recent end of the war, abso-fucking-lutely _nothing _is available!”

“But if you are already working on the propeller, doesn't that mean you have at least the frames and some outer shell prepared?” Cloud pointed out.

Cid deflated, and puffed out another breath. The acrid stench of the smoke make Cloud frown slightly, but he wordlessly bent back one of the crooked wings of the propeller. Cid gaped and cursed loudly again when the cigarette fell to the floor.

“Fuck! Piece of stupid stick-”

When he finished stomping on it, Cid turned and glared furiously at Cloud. “Don't do something like that so suddenly! You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!”

“...Sorry.”

“Che, it's fine. That bent piece of useless lump was giving me trouble anyways. But seriously!” Cid patted his pockets for another cigarette, until he opened the crumpled box and realized he was out of everything. “Not again! I swear on the Planet that absolutely _nothing _in this place lasts long enough to matter! Ugh.”

That... sounded more than ominous.

“What do you mean?”

“Huh? Nothing.” Cid looked forlornly at the last mangled cigarette remains on the floor, and sighed. “Since the Shinra wannabes here _don't _use mako, everything kind of... is not built to last as long.”

When Cloud didn't say anything, Cid added, “Not that the Shinra asshats were doin' anything good! But I do miss the stainless steel on almost _ everything _.”

That was actually... true. Most of the utensils he had seen so far had been plastic or some kind of feeble metal. Most of the spoons in the lower plates had some kind of rust and wear on them that the constant washes couldn't peel off, and even Tifa had complained about it before. The workers constantly worked to clean off the grime that would eventually appear on the train tracks, and there were _ clay _buildings on some of the plates -like the Temple-.

It was downright bizarre.

“So, what happened with your fucking traipsing through the plate, huh?” Cid asked, leaning on the wall.

“I met... Zack. Aerith. Marlene.” Cloud swallowed once, and averted his gaze to the old propeller, trying to _ not _see the expression on the pilot's face.

“We just talked. I visited the Temple, and I met Marlene's counterpart of this world. She looks... young.”

Cid snorted. “Under-fucking-statement of the century. Even Rufus Shinra looks like a baby in his stupid white suit, and that's him trying to look mature. Hah!”

Cloud's lips twitched slightly, remembering Rufus' fondness for double white jackets and intentionally coiffed strands of hair back when Shinra stood at the top of the world. But his mood plummeted when he remembered all the other _unopened _can of worms.

“I tried telling them that I wasn't from _here_.” He grimaced. “I... couldn't. So I decided to tell them everything later. I'm meeting them in three days. Hopefully, I can convince Aerith at least regarding our current situation, and check if there is another way.”

Cid heaved out an explosive sigh and cursed under his breath. “Goddess help us all._” _

The swordsman blinked, and asked, “What do you mean?”

Cid just shook his head and stepped walked back to the small storage space. There was a loud clatter, and Cid cursed loudly again before he came back out with two cups of steaming tea.

Cloud accepted the proffered cup gratefully, and just quirked a small smile. “You didn't take as long this time.”

Cid only grunted as a response, and took a sip. Cloud followed suit, unwilling to let the sudden calm atmosphere break.

Cloud's mind wandered back to the events from this afternoon. He was glad, oh _so _glad that they were _fine, _and the fact that he saw them smiling was like receiving a blessing from the Planet herself, but now back in this small tea/mechanic shop drinking tea with Cid made his ealier decision feel foolish.

Would Zack and Aerith believe him even if he told them the truth?

-_Does it matter? You won't be here for long enough to matter-_

It _did _matter. Aerith and Zack deserved the truth, and even if they didn't believe him, then he would find a way to try to lessen their pain or disappointment when the moment of truth eventually revealed itself, smacking them all with its inevitability.

After all, he already made plans to get out of Midgard and trek to Cosmo Canyon. Or, its equivalent from this world. The meeting with Aerith and Zack was a fortunate and slightly selfish whim, but after he told them everything then he wouldn't have another reason to keep seeing them. Cid was working on the airship, Tifa and Reeve already had a second 'failsafe' plan to meet up in Junon if things went south, and once Cid's airship was up in the air they could outrun whatever Shinra threw at them, and stay undetected for longer than staying on the ground.

“Heeey! I'm here for the PHS? The busted one?”

Both Cloud and Cid stood up abruptly, the pilot cursing when he spilled tea onto the floor.

“Fuck! Son of a Tonberry holding a shitstick!”

Zack popped his head and whistled loudly. “Whoa, sorry man. That looks like a _lot _of spilled tea. Uhh, let me help?”

Cid batted away Zack's outreached hands brusquely, and pulled out a greased rag from one of the many drawers rattling with bolts and whatnots. “How many times have I said this before? We are CLOSED!” He screamed the last word out, giving his best glare to the sheepish looking SOLDIER.

“Hey, the door's open, and the little card by the door says Open!”

“What?” Cid stopped haphazardly mopping up the floor and angrily stomped over the door.

It did say 'Open'.

“This is absolutely _not _my day. First with the whole stupid raids that the asswipes of Shinra are conducting _everywhere_, now with _this_!”

Cid glared at the door and Zack as if they personally offended him, and Cloud decided to take pity on the pilot. His blood pressure was already bad with all the smoking and the extra added strain.

“Zack, there is a small waiting chair. Maybe you could try waiting for a bit?”

His friend turned a bright grin at him, and gave him an enthusiastic one-armed hug. Cloud tried not to let the remaining drink on the cup spill to the floor with the sudden glomp, and Zack's grin turned a little bit more natural when he noticed Cloud's put out expression.

“Hey, it's my lucky day! I saw you twice in a row! You didn't tell me you worked here!”

Where did _that _come from?

“Not really. Cid and I-”

“Your stupid piece of garbage you call PHS is _not _ready yet! Do you know how many times I've tried to get a spare part for its waterdrowned, dead piece of shit? Your lump of useless electronic is fucking _ancient_! Nobody uses that model anymore!” Cid hollered, immediately staring down at Zack who let Cloud go and raised both hands in surrender.

“Uhh, no? And that is the latest model! What do you mean that it's ancient? I mean, it has been weeks, right? I thought that by now you would have- _Ow!”_

“Oh, fuck! What are you made out of, Titanium? Planet damned shithole! My fingers!”

Zack rubbed at his buffeted arm, pouting at the pilot who was holding his hand in pain.

Cloud sighed, and put the now empty cup on one the uncluttered surfaces of the room.

“Right. Thank you Cid for the tea. I'll get going. And Zack, don't forget the date.”

Zack gave him a cheeky wink and a playful two-fingered salute and parroted back, “Aye, aye, Sir!”

Cid spluttered, “A _date_?!”

Oh, the wording had room for misunderstanding.

Cloud sighed again, and just signaled out of Zack's line of sight, -_Three days_-. Cid's eyes barely widened in understanding, and loudly ushered Zack into the back of the shop, loudly complaining when the dark haired man proved to be harder to manhandle than expected.

When Zack's back was turned, Cid briefly glanced back and nodded.

Three days. Then they could be moving forward with everything else.

* * *

“I saw Cloud twice today! Haha, how lucky is that?”

Zack sprawled over one of the large guest sofas, and fiddled with his newly repaird -_And even sleeker than before!- _PHS in his hand.

Sephiroth frowned slightly, and his pen stopped gliding across the papers for a moment.

“You met Corporal Strife and you didn't notify me immediately?”

Zack sat up, putting the PHS away. “Hey, sir. The second meeting was entirely on accident! And you know how skittish our friend has become. I couldn't alert _everybody _in the vicinity that Cloud was alive!”

Sephiroth's hands tightened momentarily on the pen making it creak, but soon he relaxed.

“You are right. Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“So yeah, I went to the shop again to get my PHS back, and guess what? The mechanic truly is good as the rumors go. He complained about what a dump my PHS was all the time, but he actually made it better! Look!”

He jumped up from the seat and bounded to the desk and thrusted the device onto Sephiroth's face, making the general grimace.

“Zack.”

“No, seriouly, look! The one thing that Shinra goes all the way is when they give out PHSes, since they think that the 'fast way of communications' will bring better efficiency blah blah blah, but the mechanic repaired it like, like, I dunno. As if it were a piece of garbage and made it better?”

“Zack.” A warning.

“Sorry, no badmouthing Shinra in front of the General. Got it.” Zack mussed his own hair and grinned. “But seriously Seph. It was kind of cool to watch. Now it doesn't even have the message delay that these models had!”

The PHS that Zack held out didn't look very different from the current models of PHSes. It was on the slightly heavier side than most SOLDIERs preferred, but almost all the supply requests, mission notices, and branch-wide alerts got sent through the device, so every SOLDIER _had _to carry one.

“I don't see the difference.”

“See? How awesome is that? The PHS was completely _busted_! Water-logged, mud-logged, probably dropped quite a few times...” Zack trailed off when he noticed Sephiroth's expression, but he plowed on, “But the mechanic literally repaired like like new! Okay, now that I think about it, my PHS probably did deserve all the 'garbage' comparisons with how it used to look but,-”

“Zack. What was Strife doing there?”

The black haired man stopped at the general's blunt question, and blinked. After a beat, he said, “Oh, uh. I don't know? I think he works there. I mean, I did meet Cloud in that weird tea and mechanic shop, so...”

Zack eyes lit up in recollection and excitedly added, “Oh! Right! Now that I think about it, I also met him in the bar! The barmaid probably knows Cloud too! But we've never met before either which is slightly weird. Huh.”

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “Really? Hn. How interesting.”

Zack huffed a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, it's kind of weird to think that suddnely he knows more people than I do, y'know? I mean, not that it's bad! Cloudy is socializing! But... I used to be his only friend before, y'know? So... yeah. Just weird.”

“Hmph.”

Zack shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled again, even if it didn't seem genuine. “He doesn't remember a lot, you know? I want to help, but I don't even know where to start.”

Sephiroth didn't say anything, but he didn't continue working either. So Zack filled in the silence, continuing his previous train of thought, not really being bothered by the fact that his only listener wasn't contributing to the one-sided conversation.

“Oh! And you also never told me why you guys fought! I thought he was your First Sight?”

Sephiroth tonelessly added, “You don't know what the media is saying right now?”

Zack laughed and flopped down on the sofa again. “Mnn, nope! I've been slightly out of the loop with my PHS having been busted and all. It's repaired now so no need for paperwork! Anyway, I was in the cafeteria when something black and silver dropped down across the windows, and my buddies and I were all like _Whaat?_ So we all huddled close to the glass and we see you fighting someone, like, so fast?”

He whistled loudly, thinking back on the fast streaks of blur, and when he noticed Sephiroth's single raised eyebrow Zack cleared his throat and continued, “Then you moved away into the parks so we lost sight of you, but a buddy who had the PHS on TV mode kind of live-streamed the fight, and the guy in black looked like Cloud? I mean, the footage is super shaky and blurry, but that sunny hair is really distinctive, you know?”

Zack grinned at his own joke, but it dimmed when he noticed Sephiroth's lack of expression.

The general lightly closed his eyes to let them rest. “If you have seen it, then why are you asking?”

Zack fiddled with the newly repaired PHS for a while, and scratched his neck in a slightly nervous gesture. “Well, the transmission cut off and...” he lowered his voice, “I think Shinra censored the entire news right after it was aired. People who saw it talk about it, but nobody kind of knows what happened.”

Sephiroth put his finished paperwork into a neat stack. “I ordered the news to be taken down.”

“What?! Why?”

Further protests died when Sephiroth set down his pen with an ominous _clack! _on the desk.

Sephiroth's voice lacked inflection when he said, “Because we currently have a departed Corporal returned from the hands of the Goddess, who suddenly changed personality and doesn't remember crucial aspects of his life before departing.”

“Yeah, so? That's why we gotta help him! I told you how frightened and skittish he was even of his own friends!”

“That's not how the people of the plates will see him. They will expect a miracle, a martyr coming back to life, like the old legends. And when they realize Strife is not the idol the people have built the pedestal for, then they would tear him apart.”

Zack was stunned into silence. Soon, his face broke out into a huge grin and quickly gave a small affectionate bump to Sephiroth's arm knowing that the taller man disliked hugs.  
  
“Aww, Seph! I knew you were a softie and trying to help Cloud too!”

Sephiroth frowned. “Don't put words into my mouth, I have a duty to keep the relative peace of Midgard until Shinra jr. steps up. I don't want a bigger problem than what I have right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. But really. Then what can we do?”

The taller man tapped his fingers once, twice, thrice on the desk, deep in thought. Zack tried not to make too much noise, since he knew that his friend preferred his own ticks filling the silence to other external noises.

“You said that Strife was seen often in the lower plates with the company of a tea shop owner and a bartender? Are those the only establishments you have seen Strife so far?”

Zack snapped to attention. “Yeah. The temple too, but I invited him there so...”

Sephiroth interlaced his fingers and lightly placed them on the desk and said, “I might have something, but I need you to be on standby.”

“What! I want to help!”

“You will. But for this first part of the strategy, I need you to be on standby. Stay in the observation room, but do not make a move until I give you the signal.”

Zack lost his jovial expression and gave Sephiroth a brief salute.

“Yessir!”

* * *

Cloud absentmindedly bit into the sandwich, and with his other hand he ran a finger across the World map. He left the food on the plate next to the map and picked up a pen, scribbling onto the surface of the ragged paper.

Tifa and Cid had said that on land or sea, the only viable transports were trains or large ferries. With the exception of a few daring dreamers, just like Brogart and his motley crew, nobody dared to travel by themselves. So it would be harder to get lucky like he had been when he first woke up here.

Since Shinra didn't control half of the Planet, infrastrusture between continents was almost non-existent or ridiculously overpriced. People didn't travel far to trade, and usually stayed within short distance for their necessities or news. Wutai was almost completely isolated, and the smaller villages and cities spread across the continents were mostly self-sustaining.

Probably they were run by their own village elders and systems, without Shinra's shadow always looming close by.

So, plans.

Tomorrow he would go meet Zack and Aerith for one last time. Tifa and Reeve would stay in Midgard for a bit longer to keep an eye on Sephiroth and Shinra, and if things went awry then they would use the underground sewer system and get into contact with one of the smuggling groups to find a way out of Midgard and head to Junon. Cid would continue working on his airship, he estimated a few weeks more at least to try for a test run, so once he had his airship running then he would come and collect them all.

They would contact each other only if there was an emergency or an unplanned change of locations, since the Shinra provided continent-wide PHS network was probably monitored.

A small knock interrupted him out his reverie, and he quietly made his way to the door.

That wasn't AVALANCHE's coded knock. Tifa was out for the day, and had told him to not expect her until 10 pm at least.

Who was it then? The second floor was off-limits for the bar patrons, and after Zack had discovered his disguise, he _always _used the window at crack of dawn or under the cover of the night to avoid eyes. He even left the bigger blades of First Tsurugi in the room, only taking the smaller, more _easily _concealable swords.

The knock returned more insistently than before and Cloud grabbed one of the smaller blades and unfolded it with a muted click. He strained his ears, and if anything sounded amiss, -_The click of a gun, the shuffle of armored feet, anything- _then he would take out the figure behind the door, and would bolt for the windows with the travel pack.

Tifa would understand what happened, and would alert Cid and Reeve regarding his whereabouts.

“To the fugitive hiding behind the door! I'm the Captain of the Shinra army battalion 24! We have orders to take you in for the protection of the citizens of Midgard! Resistance will be met with extreme prejudice, and we have all the exits of this building covered!”

Cloud's heart leaped to his throat, and he tightened his grip on his blade.

The lower plate citizens didn't like Shinra, so they _couldn't _have reported him to the army. After that first careless mistake, he made sure that nobody else saw him entering or exiting the bar. After that fight with Sephiroth, the heated questions from the people faded into a dim interest after a few days, and he had covered his tracks well so that he would not be able to be traced back to Tifa.

So how had they known?

“Come out now! This is your last warning!”

What could he do? He could take the windows, but if they were already surrounding the buldings, then he had no hope getting away undetected. The only door of the room was currently blocked by the army soldier, and even if he took the guard out he couldn't be sure that there weren't any more soldiers in waiting.

“Now!”

The door shuddered from the violent push, and Cloud took a step back, quickly assembling his Fusion Swords and slinging the travel bag, across his shoulders.

He didn't want to destroy Tifa's bar by cutting down the walls, and materia usage was _definitely _out of the question. He didn't have any Status effect materia, and if he used any of his elemental materia, he would definitely burn/freeze/scorch half of Tifa's bar.

“We really didn't want to do this, but you leave us no choice. Guards!”

There was a multitude of feet stampeding up the stairs, and a pair of footsteps that sounded like they were being dragged.

Were they using somebody as a _hostage_?

“We have orders to use whatever means necessary to bring you in, and that means taking in everybody who came into contact with you!”

Cloud's eyes widened when the soldier's words sank in. _Tifa. _

She knew she had to deny any connections to him to keep up the charade for a little longer until it was no longer necessary, but if the soldiers weren't listening and just arresting anybody, then she would have no chance of escaping unless luck was on their side.

And luck was _never _on their side.

If the hostage was Tifa, then she was not saying anything probably as to not alert him, but if he escaped here, he would leave Tifa to the wolves. He knew she could take care of herself, but they all decided to lay low and avoid as many risks as possible. And nobody in AVALANCHE knew how Shinra's army operated right now, or what was their policy towards prisoners.

So he could take no chances.

“Open the door!”

Cloud kept his blade low, in order to not raise alarms too soon, but he was _tempted _to just let everything go to hell and grab whoever was held hostage and dash for the closest train terminal.

“I will.” Cloud called out, and slowly opened the door. The stairs leading to this room was packed by soldiers who held threateningly the Shinra-issued swords. He could hear the click of a gun too, so probably the gun-trained squad was downstairs in order to not spray their comrades with their bullets when things went awry, and as a back up plan if they decided they needed a more _forceful _persuation tactic.

Cloud had his hood up, so he was thankful that at least they couldn't see half of his face that probably was filled with relief when there was no Tifa in between the ranks.

Then who was playing hostage?

The man at the front who had been banging at the door puffed up. “Under orders of the regent, we are to take you into arrest for destruction of property, endangerment of citizends of Midgard, and attempted kidnapping and manslaughter!”

_Manslaughter?_

The guard continued, “If you come quietly, we won't use lethal force and we won't have to resort to the more... _unpleasant _methods. Leave all the weapons and bag behind.”

Cloud's grip on his sword tightened, and his glove creaked with the force. Some of the guards shifted uneasily at his silence, but the leader remained aloof still training his attention on Cloud.

“What if I don't?” Cloud ground out, muscles tense, still warily tracking all of the weapons the soldiers held up. He could just bowl all of them over from the stairs, get the hostage, and flee. If he had the element of surprise then even the guards outside would have trouble pinning him down.

The man twitched his nose and his mustache quivered. “Then maybe _this _will convince you.”

Soon the group behind the man shuffled and they barely held back somebody who almost toppled over with the force of the shove. It was a man, face beaten black and blue, who could barely stay on his foot with one leg painfully crooked to one side.

It was Essai.

Cloud had seen him around after the brief fiasco with his sword and the window, and had gathered he was a frequent visitor to the bar.

The captain roughly grabbed Essai's hair and pulled his lolling head up. Essai tried blinking but his pupils were uneven and slow to respond.

What had they _done _to him?

“We know this... _ruffian” _the captain spat the word as if they were something disgusting, “always stays in this bar from 11 to 2, always on Tuesdays. Never a day over or a minute under. We know that he has been selling Shira secrets to criminals, and if you don't cooperate, we'll make sure he _never _sees the Plate's sunlight!”

… _What_?

“He is just a bar patron.” Cloud clarified, but the captain puffed up and roughly let go of Essai's head. “Hah! And you would know, wouldn't you? Disgusting filth gathering together. We should have done this _weeks _ago! Cleaning the cities from the likes of you!”

It seemed like Shinra's ineptitude grew _everyday_. Seriously, even with dimensional travels their incompetence continued even on parallel worlds.

Cloud couldn't completely erase his disbelief from his voice when he said, “You have the wrong guy.”

“Shut up! Leave everything you have on you right here and come with us, or we'll have one less suspect to question, hmm?” He roughly yanked Essai's head and shook him, making the beaten man dangle bonelessly.

So they weren't listening to anything he would say, and dind't have qualms about ending the life of someone they thought was a 'criminal'. From Essai's condition, he would _definitely _die if left untreated, either from his probable internal bleeding or from aggravating his wounds.

“Will you treat him at least if I go quietly with you?”

He could break out of Shinra's prison. He did it once, and could _definitely _do it again. But Essai wouldn't survive the trip up the plates if they just continued to drag him like a piece of dead meat.

The captain seemed to hesitate, but one of the guards behind him urgently signaled something and the man snorted in disgust. Finally he spat, “Fine. We'll send a call for a Priestess. Men!”

Guards roughly shoved past Essai to enter the room, surrounding Cloud. He slowly dropped his bag, and if fell with a loud _thud _on the wooden floor. With one hand he unclasped the sword harness, and slowly, _very _slowly, he left First Tsurugi lying on the wall. The shinra guards shuffled backwards, swords pointing at him when he had the blade on hand.

“Now! Walk! Slowly and no sudden movements.” The captain barked out, and Cloud raised both hands to walk in front of the man. He tried catching Essai's eye when he walked past him, but the poor man was too drugged or out of it.

He could always escape from wherever Shinra stuffed him in, and cast the most potent restorative magic to the man and help him get better. Essai was caught in Shinra's ridiculous finger pointing game and paid the price, and -_he was partly to blame. Only if you had moved sooner-_

Cloud could help the man. Later.

“Move!” The captain prodded him roughly in the back with the pommel of his sword, and Cloud stumbled once.

They didn't know materia, so even if he left his Fusion Swords behind he wouldn't be _ completely _defenceless. He _never _went anywhere without his sword, and Tifa would know something was amiss the moment she stepped into the room and saw his belongings. She would contact Cid and Reeve, and move flexibly depending on the situation.

* * *

He was dumped inside a sparsely furnished room and left alone. The room had only a small, heavily reinforced window, a low table with a small bowl of fruits and a few undescript sofas around. There was also a desk with a single unused chair that seemed ill-fitting with the rest of the nondescript décor, with its bright artificial leather color and a _very _stylized painting of the Shinra tower hanging from one of the walls.

It looked like a badly designed conference room, but at least it wasn't a prison cell.

_Yet_.

Cloud carefully strode around the room, cataloguing and checking every nook and cranny. The drawers in the low table were fake, the sofas had an uncomfortable edge that was _too _precise to be anything but deliberately made that way, and the fruit bowl contained an assortment of different coloured apples. He couldn't tell if they had been tampered with, so he left them alone and continued his search.

He couldn't see a CCTV on the ceilings but they were probably hidden in between the walls or insde one of the fake furnitures. The desk's drawers were also fake, but it did have one red button that had the words 'secu' faded out, so it was probably a panic button that called external security or boxed in the people inside the room.

His hair in his neck stood up, and Cloud whirled around just in time to see the only entrance/exit of this room open. He only got this feeling when _he _was close, and his instincts didn't fail him this time either when he saw Sephiroth strode in, no guards in tow. The door closed behind him making no sound.

The taller man made no acklowledgements and disinterestedly stared at the ugly Shinra painging on the wall. Cloud's heart hammered in his chest, and he absolutely _ refused _ to let Sephiroth out of his sight. He didn't have Masamune on him, but if _ he _ could summon the impossible blade from nowhere, then Cloud would take no chances with _ this _Sephiroth either.

After a tense moment of silence, Sephiroth turned to him.

It took _ everything _in Cloud to not flinch when the green, slitted eyes landed on him.

“You are a hard man to find, Cloud.”

Cloud immediately snapped, “Don't call me that.”

Sephiroth only raised an eyebrow as if his reaction amused him. “Strife, then.”

Cloud only glowered at the silver-haired man.

Sephiroth continued, “You know what people are calling you right now on the streets?” Cloud didn't answer and Sephiroth continued as if his silence didn't bother him. “The _ hero _ of the under-plateners. They remember when you, almost single handedly, stopped the plate from falling and crushing millions living under. But I wonder what they will say when an exact replica of their _ hero _ has almost dropped the plate on them?”

Cloud only clutched his hands into fists. Sephiroth noticed, but turned to stare at the painting again.

“They would start a witch-hunt. Searching for the fake copy that dared to sully their hero's name and tear him to pieces. Probably make an example too.” His green eyes briefly flicked back to Cloud. “Ironically, make his remains a desecrated symbol.”

He knew and suspected this. So why was Sephiroth telling him this?

“What I want you to know, _ Strife _, is that the situation is completely under my control. If you don't cooperate, I could have the entire tide turn against you. Make you completely disappear to never be seen again.”

When Cloud didn't say anything, the man asked, “But I wouldn't because I want to _know_.” Sephiroth pinned Cloud with an intense scrutiny.

“Why are you here, _ Cloud _?”

And wasn't _ that _ a loaded question? Why was he here? Why Tifa or Cid or Reeve? What was he even _ doing _here, instead of busting out and checking on Tifa, Cid, Reeve, and Essai and hightailing to Cosmo Canyon?

When Cloud refused to answer, Sephiroth gave him a cold, cruel smile. “You are aware I could have you executed for high treason? After all, you did go after Dr.Hojo, the Chief of Medicine and Science.”

Bastard.

Cloud clenched his teeth and ground out, “I didn’t kill him.” Gaia, he wished he had been able to bring at least one of the blades of First Tsurugi.

The General continued as if he didn’t hear the blond. He started walking up to him, tone deceptively light for the situation. “Or I could have all of your accomplices taken into custody and have _them_ give me an answer. My intelligence office tells me that the Tea shop owner didn’t change his shop legally. Or that the lovely bar owner under the plate housed you during the search, meaning she aided a fugitive. It would be _such _a shame to have them gone, don’t you think?”

“They didn’t do anything. Leave them alone.” Cloud closed his eyes, and slowly chanted, -_not the same, not the same, not the same man_\- in his mind, unwilling to let the taller man any kind of pleasure of seeing him out of balance.

Sephiroth's smile only grew wider. “_Oh_? So you do admit they are related to you in some way or another.” Cloud just clenched his hand and looked away.

Shit, he walked into that one.

Sephiroth walked around him, lazily appraising him like a Nibel wolf waiting for the opportune moment to sink its teeth in the flesh of its prey. Cloud stubbornly held his ground. The silver haired man raised a hand, and Cloud tensed for a moment expecting to see Masamune materializing from air, but the man only plucked an apple from the bowl and held it out to him.

“I’ll make you a deal, _Cloud_.”

“Not interest-”

“Stay here. Under _my _surveillance. If I can determine that you are not a menace to the populace of Midgard, then I will let you go.” Sephiroth’s face was devoid of any emotion, but the words were _heavy_ with implication.

“I won’t ask you anything else.”

Cloud batted the hand with the fruit away and crossed his arms. “As a prisoner? No thanks.” It would be his _death_ when he subjected himself to _Sephiroth_, of all people.

The General withdrew his hand, and stared dispassionately at Cloud.

“A pity, then. I will just round off every figure that came into contact with you, since they are _untrustworthy_ to the crown of Midgard.” The blond’s heart dropped to his stomach when Sephiroth continued, “Starting with Lt. Fair. He _was _my closest ally, but who knows what confidential information he shared with a _terrorist_.”

Without even pausing, Sephiroth strode back to the desk. His voice was even more emotionless than usual when he said, “then it will be the bar owner for attempting to obstruct the investigation and shield a potential threat. The illegal mechanic will be brought in for questionable practices that could threaten civilians. The entire sector 1 will be under lockdown in order to flush out whatever _mole_ that fed information to the terrorist who managed to pick out the exact floor of the Chief of Medicine and Science to assassinate him.”

Cid might have said that _this _Sephiroth wasn't the deraged man who kept coming back to life to raze everything to the ground, but Cloud was having a hard time believing that.

The original Sephiroth also fought in Shinra's dirty war, aided the propaganda that further fueled anti-Wutai and warmongering sentiments, and demonstrated he would do almost _anything _to accomplish his mission.

This Sephiroth could _definitely _do all of the things he mentioned, and he would probably not even bat an eye while doing it.

And what was worse was that Sephiroth was actually right. _He _had all the options, the entire situation in his hand, and it wouldn't take much or long at all for the Shinra army to mobilize towards Cid's shop or Tifa's bar.

From what Cloud could see from the treatment of Essai, the army didn't have any problems with mistreating and manhandling their 'potential threats', didn't care about _collateral damage_, and didn't really consider the possibility of them being actually _wrong_.

Where AVALANCHE stood right now, they didn't have allies except for the general dislike of the lower plate citizens, they didn't have a base of operations, no weapons, no substantial intel, no nothing. If Sephiroth ordered Tifa, Cid, _Zack_ taken out, then they would get no help apart from what they could offer each other. Reeve would be further alone. But Cloud was here, Cid probably in the wasteland right now, Tifa out of the bar, and Zack wherever his mission had him assigned, so if anyone got taken then information would be slow to circulate. They probably would be blindsided, with no resources, no possible help/allies, and under the mercy of whatever Shinra dished out until they could escape or got help.

Reeve would be further isolated, and probably wouldn't be able to offer help, lest he get branded as a 'traitor', and wouldn't be able to get help either.

Gaia, it was a disaster. Things weren't supposed to go this way.

But when did _anything _ever go his way?

His heart hammered in his chest when Cloud shouted “Wait!” at the same time Sephiroth inconspicuously leaned over the desk, subtly shifting his fingers to hover over the panic button on the table. Sephiroth _knew _that Cloud was hyperaware of what the taller man was doing, and he was completely toying with the situation right now.

Cloud _had _to buy his friends time. Do whatever that was necessary to widen their window of opportunity. -_For escape, for freedom, for a chance to fight back-_

When Cloud didn't say anything immediately, the General raised an eyebrow and Cloud clenched his hands tighter before releasing them, defeated.

“I will stay.”

Sephiroth only gave a small tilt of his lips. “But you already rejected the offer of the crown. Why should I accept, _hmm_?”

Cloud took a deep breath to calm himself for the next words he was about to say.

Shiva _damn_ him. Damn him all the way and back.

“Because I _know_ I am your First and Second Sight, and I know that you are not willing to lose me for the second time.” _You_ _controlling asshole_, Cloud added mentally.

Sephiroth was stunned if his slowly curling fingers was any indication.  
When the silence stretched, Cloud tried to remain as still as possible unwilling to break the atmosphere. _Take it, take it, take it, please-_

After an eternity, Sephiroth raised his eyes to meet his and added in a subdued voice, “Indeed.”

The silver haired man didn’t say anything after that, and Cloud had to forcibly stop himself from tearing his hair out of frustration. Thankfully, before he said anything barbed that would have had the taller man retracting his tentative offer, Sephiroth took a small step backwards from the desk and stared out of the small window, holding his hands behind his back.

The stiff slant of his shoulders combined with that gesture made Sephiroth look oddly vulnerable for some reason. Cloud looked down, unwilling to continue staring at the man. He felt a small stab of guilt for not saying -_I’m not actually him. The Cloud Strife you knew is actually dead-_ but it was ignored when Sephiroth soon walked up to him and he minutely tensed.

“Then it’s settled. You are to accompany me to most functions and travels. You will not have a guard, since I will oversee you _personally_, but any threats, implicit or otherwise, will be met with inmediate action.”

With nothing added further, Sephiroth strode out of the room, letting in a cold gush of the air conditioned air when the door briefly opened and closed.

Cloud felt the burn of _hate_ curling in his chest towards the retreating man.

But he never hated himself more than he did right then.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I'm back!!!  
Happy holidays everyone! (Even if it's a tad belated, better late than never, eh?)  
And here is the latest chapter! (I can't believe I managed to update before the year is over!) Hope this gets the ball slowly rolling... 
> 
> Anyway, happy holidays and happy new year! May 2020 be even greater and filled with joy than ever before! (and hopefully have faster updates haha...)
> 
> And I just noticed that some of my line breaks were...gone?? I added them back in so hopefully the scenes flow more naturally now.
> 
> I know I've been terribly slow at responding your comments, but please know that I love and appreciate every one of them! The Kudos, the comments, the favorites, they all make me blush (and the fact that this fic broke 500 kudos is just so amazing??!!!?? Like THANK YOU ALL for liking this fic so much??!!???? HOW WHAT WHEN WHY  
THANK YOU and LOVE YOU ALL AHHHHHH


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: some (unintended) self harm, slightly unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Zack clenched and unclenched his hands, hoping that it would be enough to calm down his jittery nerves. Seriously, Seph and Cloud needed him at his best!

But the exchange between Seph and Cloud across the one-way mirror made him feel _anything _but reassured.

Seph was supposed to _help _his friend, not... Zack groped for a suitable word that would encompass the entire Behemoth sized _bad _situation they found themselves in. Something unpleasant and totally not Zack sybillantly whispered,-_Threaten? Coerce? Twist his best friend's arm? Emotionally manipulate his vulnerable friend? Ohh, and didn't _you _just start this entire snowball, huh?-_

Goddess, he had to get a grip. He could still salvage this. He _had _to.

He was worried for his friends, _both _of them, and he couldn't imagine what was going through inside each of their heads. He ruffled his hair out of frustration, and tried doing some squats to relieve the tension he was feeling.

When Sephiroth left the room, leaving Cloud still completely frozen inside the observation room, Zack immediately jumped and hounded the taller man.

“Seph! You were too forceful! You were supposed to help Cloud!”

Sephiroth's flinty expression didn't change, but Zack wasn't friends with the man for years for nothing. He could spot,_ kind of, _the small stiff upper lip. In Sephiroth speak that usually meant 'disappointed'.

Okay, he could work with this.

The silver-haired man flicked his gaze to the one-way mirror, where was Cloud still unmoving, emptily staring at a particular nothing on the wall.

“No. He needed to be handled firmly in order to make sure he didn't pull the same stunt as before.”

Zack almost ripped his hair out from the sheer _frustration _he was feeling. “What stunt? Cloud's fight or flight response? Even the Priestess said that those who returned from the departed had to be handled with care! And what just happened in there was _not _handling with care. In fact, it was the complete opposite! So opposite that even if I were the one who came back, I would have been tempted to crawl back to the Goddess!”

When Zack noticed the brief flash of _hurt _in his friend's eyes, he stopped and took a deep breath to calm his racing heart.

Shit. What was he doing? He had to help Seph _and _Cloud. Not to blow up on them! Good job, Fair. Screwing up in even the most simplest of things!

Guilt simmered under the slowing heartbeat, and Zack bit his lower lip. “Sorry, that was totally uncalled for. I'm an idiot.”

Sephiroth didn't answer, and his frosty expression didn't change.

Zack felt like the trashiest trash on the Planet. He swallowed once, ran a hand over his hair, making it even more rumpled, and asked in a low voice, “Then why?”

The general didn't give a reply, gaze still affixed to the unmoving blond inside the Observation room.

“Seph, when you told me that you had a plan, I wasn't expecting you to threaten everybody he remembers _now _in order to have his submission! Now he'll be even _more _paranoid than before, and we wanted to avoid that!”

“That's were you come in.”

Zack startled, not expecting Sephiroth to answer him when he was technically, 'venting'.

“What?”

“You will soothe Corporal Strife, since my presence alone is enough to make him nervous. I can't have an open channel of communications with him in this state, so you'll have to earn his trust before I do.”

Zack's heart went out to his friend, noticing the almost imperceptible tinge of regret and melancholy in his friend's voice. But it was for this reason he couldn't do this to his blond friend either.

“Seph, no. I don't want to manipulate my friend into something he clearly doesn't want.”

He was dead set on this. Cloud had been betrayed far too many times to have his trust broken like this even by his First Sight. Even if he didn't remember, it didn't matter.

Cloud was his friend.

So was Sephiroth.

And doing this would  _definitely _ hurt all of them, so Zack refused to even consider it.

“Don't you want your friend back?”

_Oh, _ that was a low blow, that sneaky-

He couldn't completely hide his glower when he said, “Yes! But not like this!”

Sephiroth didn't even blink at his outburst. “Then consider it as an information gathering __ mission. Don't treat the subject as your friend, but as a target.”

He couldn't be considering just treating this entire situation like another case to finish, another report to hand in, another mission to accomplish. Cloud was Sephiroth's First Sight! Seph wouldn't be  _that _ emotionally detached from the situation to just... brush everything like this.

Seph was better than this. Zack was certain, and determined to let his friend know.

Only that right now, his friend truly seemed like a giant stick in the mud, the asshole of assholes, the King of unhelpful stubborness, the... the...

Zack sighed. This wasn't fair of him. He knew that Sephiroth was slightly not in tune with his own emotions and social cues, and probably the man was just acting the best way he knew how in an uncertain situation. Treating it as an objective, getting as much assessment as possible from a possibly hostile personality by keeping it isolated from external help or resources to gather information.

Shinra's Espionage and Hostage Manual 101. Duh.

But still.

Zack's heart dropped to his feet. He had to do something to at least alleviate this terrible, no good situation that could potentially explode on their faces.

“No, Seph, listen-”

He didn't listen. The general gave one last glance to the one-way mirror, and promptly left the room but not before he added, “You are dismissed, Lieutenant.”

The creak of the door closing, and the fading footsteps made Zack feel like a bigger idiot.

He shook himself out of his self-moping, and with renewed determination he grabbed the handle of the door and pushed open the door where Cloud was held in.

He may be an idiot, but he still was an idiot trying to help his friends. He would not fail.

Not today.

* * *

“Cloud is gone.”

Tifa's voice was filled with worry and she readjusted her leather gloves. Cid noticed and snorted, almost losing his lit cigarette with the force of his exhale.

“What else is new? That chocobo head disappears and comes back all the time.” He munched on his cigarette, scratching his stubble. “_Why _is this an emergency?”

Tifa glared at the blond pilot, and he swallowed down a gulp. Reeve's tired voice wafted from the PHS on speaker-mode placed on the table.

“Guys, I might have an update regarding Cloud's... status.”

The handfighter perked up, and immediately leaned closer to the table, still glaring at Cid from her side-eye. “He left his sword, Reeve. And his provisions bag. You know he  _never _ leaves his sword behind, and I think somebody raided the bar while I was gone. The door had signs of forced entry, and all the CCTVs were cut out.”

Now Cid looked worried as well, even if he masked it by just gruffly replying, “Bah, maybe he had to go take care of something urgently.”

“Actually,” Reeve interrupted, “Cloud is with Sephiroth right now.”

His calm voice couldn't have been more deceptive.

Immediately the entire tea shop exploded with angry shouts, accusations, and the  _bang! _ Of a punched wall. Cid cussed, flapping his throbbing hand.

“What! Can we go one, just _one _Gaia-forsaken year without some kind of that jackass-related issue? For the love of everything green and Holy?!”

“Cid-”

Tifa jumped in, “Did Sephiroth take him? Is Cloud being held prisoner?”

“Tifa, please. If I may have a word-”

Cid ran to the back of the shop and came back out with a makeshift spear in his hand. “It ain't Venus Gospel, but I can still poke a sizeable hole into the general dickwad-!”

Reeve tried again, “Cid, we  _all_ agreed to not go killing the general until Midgard's power balance has been stabilized-” 

“Don't give a shit! That spiky head was supposed to go to Cosmo Canyon and help us find a way out of this shithole! Now that undead dick for brains has ruined everything! Months of perfectly planned schedule, _ruined! _For what, just because that piss-ass wanted-”

Tifa nimbly dodged Cid's wild swing, and quickly plucked the spear out from his hand. “Cid! no weapons in the shop, remember?”

“If we could calm down for a moment!” Reeve's sharp voice cut through the chaos, and the two shop occupants gingerly sat down onto the nearest surface. Tifa worried her lower lip, still clutching her gloved hands tightly, while Cid only re-lit a new cigarette when he realized he had dropped his previous one during his angry tirade.

“If I may continue,” Reeve cleared his throat twice. “Tifa, as you said, Sephiroth was the one who ordered a raid on your bar. The army wasn't given the full details, but I believe it was the general's plan to have Cloud somewhere he could monitor.”

Tifa frowned. “Is this related to the fact that Sephiroth's First Sight is Cloud?”

“Yes and no. From what I could pick up from the conversations, Sephiroth doesn't want the chaos that might follow if the denizens of Midgard realize that Cloud is still alive.”

Cid took a long drag of his cigarette, and exhaled angrily. “And how would you know that, huh?”

Reeve sighed. “I have been monitoring all the communication channels within Shinra tower.” Cid grumbled under his voice, 'knew it', but Reeve continued as if he didn't hear the pilot. “After the news capturing their fight, the plate has been filled with tension. Sephiroth ordered the news to be taken down, in order to avoid creating further commotion.”

Nobody said anything, and the sound of some papers shuffling from the PHS's speaker was the only thing that interrupted the sudden wake of silence that followed Reeve's revelation.

At last, Reeve continued, “I... don't know all the details since they have the important conversations away from electronics or CCTVs that I can tamper with, but the mission details from the soldiers' PHS was...” Reeve hesitated for a briegest of seconds. “Illuminating.”

Cid snorted again. “You could have become a terrifying turk but you decide to tinker with your creepy Caits and weird city plans.”

“Guys, we have to focus.” Tifa interrupted sending a reproachful glare at Cid's callousness, and the blond pilot huffed. When Tifa leveled a flat stare, Cid let out a loud sigh and wilted. “Fine! Fine. Back on track then. So, what now? This was absolutely not in _any _of our plans. We were supposed to bust _out _of Midgard, not go further _inside _the city!”

“Tower,” Reeve corrected absentmindedly and Cid screamed, “Don't give a fuck!”

“Then we know that for now Cloud is inside Shinra tower, Sephiroth is keeping a close eye, and the rest of Midgard doesn't know either what is _really _going on.” Tifa summarized, lightly drumming her fingers on the table.

Cid scratched his scruff. “So, what was what you were gonna say Reeve? Illuminating PHS messages?”

Reeve cleared his thoat twice. “The dispatch message was directed towards a small, relatively high-result producing squad. It only explained how it was a 'run-of the mill' extraction mission.”

“Then why is it interesting?” Cid asked.

“Because it contained an addendum where it explicitly declared the 'fugitive' to be captured alive. Whatever means necessary.”

Tifa frowned. “Whatever means necessary... So... They probably used some kind of leverage against him?”

Buildings _couldn't _hold Cloud, not when the man could just level the entire thing and magic himself a creative solution out of whatever jail he was held in. So if he stayed a prisoner, it was because Shinra had found some way to twist his arm.

The thought that Cloud was alright reassured Tifa, but only barely.

“Most definitely. And also, given how the order explicitly mentions 'captured alive', Sephiroth doesn't want to kill or harm Cloud.” Reeve paused. “Probably.”

Cid snorted. “As if! When that compensating sword freak is unable to cause a trainwreck just by talking, that's the day I'll leave my Shera II for good!.”

“No life-threatening harm, then.” Reeve amended, and there was another burst of static coming through the PHS speaker that crackled for a few moments. “So, for now we have a window of time. We can't go charging guns blazing, but if Cloud can hold it there, then we could get an even better source of information regarding the upper echelon of Shinra.”

“We should be taking him _out _of that place, but you want to keep Cloud there for longer!?”

Tifa cut in, bristling with restrained anger.

Sephiroth did a number on everybody in AVALANCHE, but she and Cloud held a special brand of hatred especially reserved for the man who burned down the last pieces of their childhood. Her father wasn't the _best _man, but he was the last family she had. Master Zangan, who always tried but by the end was left almost as broken as the rest of them, and Cloud's mother... The milkman, the kids two blocks from her house, _everybody _in Nibelheim died of a painful, charred death, or slowly suffocated from the smoke.

She knew this Sephiroth was a 'different' man, but it was getting _very _hard to differenciate the two men when they were _actively _trying to make someone's life miserable.

Several someones, in fact, even if it was more of an indirect influence.

“Tifa, we are all worried. But as we are currently, we can't take Sephiroth head on. We don't have any of our best weapons, we don't have a method of fast transportation/exit, and we are low on social capital... And, oh. Hmm.” Reeve murmured in even tones, apparently distracted by something else.

“Reeve?” Cid prompted.

More static burst into a sharp whine from the speakers, and both Cid and Tifa winced.

“Hey! Reeve! What gives? What is going on over there? You almost burst my goddess damned eardrums with that screech!”

“Sorry about the feedback. With the current level of technology, my systems have a little bit of a delay trying to shift through the communications and-”

“Don't give a fuck! In layman terms, Reeve!”

Reeve sighed again. Tifa could imagine him closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

The uncharacteristic silence made her more apprehensive than ever.

“I think Cloud is here.”

* * *

Cloud felt sick.

He could feel fear, anger, and disgust all running through his veins, pooling in his gut like a tide that refused calm. He was too wired with adrenaline to sit down, but he was too tense to actually be able to assess the situation.

He tightened his fists, trying to reign in the maelstorm of emotions running through him, but he couldn't.

He _couldn't_.

Gaia, the worst thing was that he wasn't even sure  _where _ to direct his anger. 

“Cloud!”

He whipped his head back up to see Zack frantically running through the door –  _The door in which Sephiroth just left through – _ and was immediately enveloped in a hug.

But he couldn't  _focus _ on that, his hands itched for the hilt of First Tsurugi and his blood roared at him to go after Sephiroth, he was trapped in his own body again,  _again, again, again, PLEASE MOVE _ -

Zack pulled himself away, and looked over the blond in concern.

“Cloud, buddy, you okay? I'm so, _so _sorry about him, I absolutely didn't know-”

Cloud painfully wrenched his attention away from the hyper-focus and the itching sensation crawling in his veins, and managed to grunt out, “Yeah. I'm okay Zack.”

“You don't look so good, buddy. Let's just all sit down for a moment and-”

“I'm fine, Zack,” he ground out more forcefully, and immediately felt guilty again at the worried expression on his friend.

Gaia, he had to pull himself together. His friends were counting on him, and _couldn't _go after Sephiroth and, and-

And what? Run through him with his _not _present sword? Burn, Freeze, or Electrocute him with his Materia?

He couldn't _do _anything. Not when he walked into this situation _willingly_.

“Uhh, Cloud? You good?”

“...Yeah.”

Zack's following grin still looked a bit forced, but it was infinitely better than the worried expression.

His friend perked up and slung an arm over Cloud's shoulders, and slowly nudged him towards the door. “So, I know this must feel very overwhelming to you, so I think we can start by taking it easy? I mean, Sephiroth was being a grade A asshole, but you know he isn't like this all the time-”

Something in Zack's word felt  _ wrong _ and Cloud stilled.

“Wait. Zack,” At his words Zack stopped. At his inquisitive glance, Cloud suddenly found his tongue to be as heavy as lead.

“Were... Were you listening?”

Zack looked guilty immediately, which didn't make Cloud feel better at  _ all _ .

“I was just in the observation room! I, uh, was prohibited from talking to you before Sephiroth and, uh, yeah. But I didn't know he would say those awful things! I should have _known _that he was planning something- ”

Cloud tried to force down the sense of  _ betrayal _ clawing inside his chest in vain.

Zack was Sephiroth's lieutenant and friend.

_-Wasn't he yours too?-_

It was understable that he had to follow orders, and that he didn't know what Sephiroth would do, but-

He couldn't listen to this. Not right now.

“I'm... I'm _tired, _Zack. Can we do this later?” He managed to turn away, and slowly walk towards the door, intent to go somewhere, _anywhere _that wasn't here. He couldn't deal with this, not after Shinra, Sephiroth, and now, -_guilty, guilty, guilty_\- Zack.

Zack immediately nodded, but soon winced and with a guilty look he averted his eyes.

“Cloud, I... I'm supposed to escort you to your temporary room.” When he noticed Cloud's flat expression, he added, “It's only temporary through! And we can totally hang out together, and we can go explore old places to joggle your memory...?”

He looked increasingly hopeful by the end of the sentence, and Cloud couldn't bear to see his friend anymore.

“... Zack.”

“Uh, sure! Sure...” He trailed off uncertainly and looked guilty and worried again.

Cloud just averted his eyes.

* * *

"Hey, buddy, you okay? I know that things didn't go so great yesterday and..."

Zack trailed off, and tried to put a ear to the door when he realized he didn't receive an answer.

Goddess, this was already starting off to a bad start. Why couldn't Sephiroth have been... at least more tactful?

Zack slapped his forehead. Sephiroth and tact did _not _go together.

"I'll just let you rest, buddy. You had a hectic day, right? I'll come and see you tomorrow."

* * *

"Hey Cloud! It's me! I'm back! Guess what happened today? Nothing. Absolutely noooothing. I really need you here buddy. So we can be bored together and share our boredom in half!" When he received no answer, he added in a sing-song voice, "I brought you snacks and some..." He rummaged through the box he was holding and picked out the small regulation toothpaste, squinting at the label. "Loco weed mint-flavored toothpaste!"

Zack knocked, shifting the small box of food and basic toiletries that Cloud would need. He was in a hurry so he couldn't get anything more substantial for his friend, but this would do in a pinch. He was already planning on hounding Sephiroth to let Cloud out of the building, so they could go together and get more stuff.

Cloud would probably need a disguise, due to the secrecy and all, but still it would have to be better than being locked in the room.

Zack knocked again when he received no answer.

He couldn't help but to feel disappointed at himself and guilty. Cloud was angry at him, and his friend's anger was totally justified.

He put down the box in front of the door, so that Cloud wouldn't miss it.

"I'll just leave some stuff in front of your door, okay? Don't forget to take it! I'll come and pick you up tomorrow as well."

* * *

The box was still there.

Zack frowned, and bit his lips in worry. Was Spike alright in there? It had been the third day almost in the evening, and if Cloud hadn't touched the food box, then he was almost three days in without food. 

"Cloud? You in?"

Zack leaned to the door and put his ear on the metallic surface, every muscle in him tense with worry. He let out a small sigh when he could hear the faint sounds of breathing and the rythmic thud-thud-thud of a heartbeat.

So he was still in there, but for some reason, he hadn't touched the food. Was he at least drinking water? All faucet water in Shinra HQ was technically potable, even if they tasted slightly like chemical sludge.

"Hey... I'm worried for you, you know? If I come back tomorrow, and see that you haven't touched your stuff, then I'm going to break in. Did you hear Cloud? I'll break in and replace all of your Shampoo with gum! I swear!"

No response.

Zack bit his lips again, and lightly placed his ear on the door again. Faint breathing and the thud-thud-thud of heartbeat.

Okay. If Cloud wasn't answering tomorrow and if he didn't touch the food, then Zack would _definitely _break that door, no matter the consequences.

* * *

“Cloud, buddy. You okay in there?”

Cloud ignored the knocks on the door. Knowing Zack, he definitely had the open codes to the door but was trying to not bring attention to it. The blond just continued to stare listlessly to the plain, nondescript walls on the opposite side, burrowing himself deeper into the scratchy blanket of the regulation bed.

“Uhh, Cloud...You've been in there for four days with no food or drinks... We-” Zack coughed once, “_I_'m worried, you know? And since you probably don't know the layout of the place I though I could come with you to get some food?”

Had it been four days? It felt like less. At first he had been too wired with adrenaline so he didn't feel hungry or thirsty, and once he had crashed he had slept without waking even once.

_Dangerous, to just let his guard down like that, _ his mind whispered.

“Please, Cloud?” Zack's pleading voice filtered through the door, and Cloud gingerly sat up from the bed. He felt grimy, unrested, and utterly, completely drained. He stared blankly at the doors for a few more seconds, and finally grunted out a scratchy, “..._What_?”

“Cloud! You are okay!” Zack's suddenly effervescent voice filtered through, and Cloud realized he couldn't hold on to the bitter of betrayal of a few days ago.

There was silence for a few beats, and there was a knock again. “So... Can I come in?"

“...Sure, Zack.”

Unsurprisingly, the front door beeped and it whooshed open. Zack looked bewildered for a moment, but entered with a bright grin that soon fell off when he noticed Cloud's state.

“Yikes, Cloud. You... don't look so good.”

Cloud snorted and pulled off the blanket off him, standing up and stretching his stiff muscles.

Zack fidgeted with his hands for a bit, but when he realized that Cloud had finished and was looking at him, he took a deep breath.

He yelled, “Okay! I gotta get this off my chest, like, _right _now.”

Cloud startled, and Zack took a deep breath, lowering his gaze to the floor. “I'm really sorry Cloud. I should have been a better friend, and I went along with Seph because I trusted him, but now I think that was a terrible thing to do. I hurt you, not only through Seph but also through my constant pushing.”

“Zack...”

Zack raised a hand. “Not to mention, you are an amazing and wonderful friend, and just returned from the hands of the Goddess, and I haven't been able to truly help you get used to being _here.”_

He took a deep breath, exhaled again, and met Cloud's eyes, completely serious and all traces of levity gone from his usually playful face.

“So I understand if you don't want to see me for the rest of the month or more, but please don't give up on us. On _me. _I swear that you still have wonderful friends and experiences that you can still live, and if you just decided to disappear or, or, _waste away_, I don't think I could ever forgive myself for literally not being able to be there for you this second time.”

Cloud tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and Zack roughly ran a hand over his spikes, seemingly frustrated at something.

“What I'm trying to say among all this ramble, is that...” he breathed in deeply again, “I'm really sorry Cloud. I promise on the Goddess that I didn't mean this to happen, and I'll do my best to solve this as soon as possible. But please, don't...”

His voice lowered. “Don't harm yourself like this.”

Cloud's mind briefly flashed back to his days of Geostigma, when he would go days without sleeping, eating, or drinking, only focused on trying to find a cure, something, _anything_ that could help Denzel, trying to not meet Tifa's concerned glances and ignoring the growing chasm of _empty _inside.

He squeezed his eyes shut. It didn't help.

He was better. He _had_ found peace. The uncertainty and anxiety that he would slide back to those dark days again always lurked in the corner of his mind, but he had _definitely _gotten better.

-_Until now-_

He was okay. He was truly _fine_. This... was just the exception.

And he couldn't stay angry at Zack. Not because of his apology, but because of _everything _that happened between them. Even if this wasn't the Zack he actually knew, he could never hate Zack. Not before, and not now.

He pushed down the remaining ball of _bitterness _still lumped in his chest as best as he could, and opened his eyes. “It's truly okay, Zack. I...” Cloud swallowed once, “I understand why you had to do this. And I expected something like this would happen sooner or later.” -_Definitely a few months sooner_-

Zack still looked torn, but he gave Cloud a small smile,to which Cloud tentatively returned.

His friend looked like he still had more on his mind, but when Cloud waited for him to continue, Zack only shook his head. They stayed silent, each lost in their own thoughts, until Zack asked, “So... Am I forgiven?”

_Can sins truly be forgiven_ ?

Cloud swallowed at the ironic echo of a conversation long past, and nodded.

“Man! I'm so glad!” He staggered a bit from the sudden weight of his friend hugging him, and found that he _couldn't _return the hug as enthusiastically, so he ended up only raising an arm and hesitantly patting the black haired man's back.

Zack immediately let go of him and ran a critical eye over him. He squinted a bit, and exclaimed, “We gotta get you fed!”

* * *

Cloud looked up at the vent entrance on the ceiling.

After the long overdue conversation with Zack, his friend had dumped at least two week's worth of take-outs and MREs onto his bed and table, and had refused to move until Cloud had finished at least half of it. 

He wasn't _quite _successful, but at least had managed to get some energy back.

Now, he was left -_confined_\- alone in the room with the leftovers of takeout Wutaian cooled on the table, along with Zack's cheery promise of _I'll be back tomorrow and we'll hang out! It will be just like the old days and it will be totatllly awesome! _as he tried to remember the layout of the flawed ventilation system.

It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to spending a day with his friend, but now that he realized he had lost_ time_, he had pressing matters to attend to.

Reeve was here after all.

In one smooth motion, Cloud managed to jump up to the disproportionally wide opening, and shimmied inside.

* * *

“Why don't you bring your friend?”

“Who, Cloud?” Zack twirled a cut flower in his hand. “Uhh... I don't think Seph would let him out of the building even for talking to priestesses.”

Aerith giggled and lightly flicked his forehead.

“No, you silly. Your other friend!”

Zack pouted, rubbing at his forehead until he stopped, realization hitting him like a lightning bolt.

“Seph?!”

* * *

The second meeting with Reeve went as well as expected. When Cloud dropped down from the ceiling along with a light plume of dust, Reeve didn't reach for the decorative letter opener on his desk, but he did let out a short whoof of half air, half scream that immediately cut off when he realized who actually dropped in.

“_Cloud?”_

Cloud gave the frazzled man a small twitch of his lips, Reeve sagged against his chair. “Sorry about that, Reeve.”

The former WRO officer just shook his head and wryly smiled back at the swordsman. “I was wondering when you would drop in , or if I should start scouring the building to find you instead.”

“Sorry. I was... in a bad spot.” Cloud offered, and Reeve's wry smile deepened. “Understatement of the century, Cloud. Tifa and Cid were a breath away from coming after Sephiroth's head after hearing what happened.”

“How-?”

“I monitor communications coming in and out of the Shinra building. It was easy to notice that a discreet order was issued to only a select few soldiers."

At Cloud's unasked question, Reeve cut his explanation short. “They are fine. I managed to stop them before they started anything drastic, but... you gave us all quite the scare.”

Cloud's tense shoulders relaxed minutely, “Thanks Reeve.”

The corner of Reeve's eyes crinkled in a small smile, but it died off into a neutral line again.

“But I'm unsure what exactly happened between you and the soldiers. None of us do, actually. You had us all worried, and the lack of information going around was enough to make us antsy.”

Cloud sighed lightly closing his eyes and leaning against the wall of the cluttered room. “Information got out. Shinra knew where I was hiding, and they came looking for me.”

“Was it-?”  
  


“No, it wasn't any of us.” If it had been any of them, then the Shinra raid would have happened much sooner. Since Reeve did not have much direct contact with Cid and Tifa before Cloud had found himself here, if any of AVALANCHE members had been tailed, then only some of them would have been taken in the moment his correlation with them was established.

But Sephiroth had known. Or at least, _definitely _suspected.

Shinra's intel was good, but not _that _good, and it would have been impossible for the Turks, or whatever the intelligence agency of this Shinra was, to be able to piece things so quickly.

The only point of contact that Cloud _did _have, and was in both Cid and Tifa's place that could have made the connection between them was...

Cloud couldn't hide the dismay slowly growing in his chest.

Zack.

Zack had been the one who let Sephiroth know about Cid and Tifa. There was no other way. And Cloud, like an idiot, had let danger right in their doorstep.

When Reeve noticed Cloud's expression, he sighed. “I'm going to guess it was one of your acquaintances?”

He should have never interacted with Zack. At _all._

_At_ last, he nodded in a jerky motion. “I think... no, I'm sure it was Zack.”

And probably Zack did not intend for all of this to happen, if his guilty reactions were anything to go by, but Sephiroth still had taken advantage of this slip of information nonetheless.

Reeve sighed again, and lightly massaged his temple. “Well, _that _explains why I couldn't get anything more regarding the mission. General Sephiroth and Lieutenant Fair have a differently encrypted line that I haven't been able to crack yet. I should try to develop a more stronger program that could penetrate through a deeper level...” He realized he was drifting, and he lightly cleared his throat. “Sorry, I went off a tangent. If you could continue, Cloud?”

“Oh... Right. Thanks. At the time, I was already planning to escape, but they had covered all the entrances and possible exits of the bar. And...”  
  


Cloud trailed off, and Reeve gently prompted, “And...?”

The blond frowned. “They used a hostage. One of the patrons of the bar.” He hoped the Shinra guards had at _least _given Essai a potion. He had never gotten to see if Essai had been treated.

Reeve closed his eyes in exhaustion, and ran his hands over his face trying to massage his eyes. “I see.”

“...Yeah.”

They lapsed into troubled silence, Cloud still going through the implications of Zack's -_his- _actions, and Reeve trying to think about the magnitude that Shinra's action had regarding the under-plateners.

“Okay. That's said and done." Reeve ran an assessing eye over the blond. "I noticed that you aren't escaping from this place yet. Do you have a different plan, Cloud?”

“Just the general one. Get to Cosmo Canyon. Find Bugenhagen. Try to find a way back. And I stayed because I knew I could buy you guys time.”

  
Reeve nodded. “All solid frameworks. But, may I suggest something else?”

He turned to his desk and pulled out a thin stack of papers, holding them out to the blond.

Cloud took it and read the top paper. “... Developmental Phases of First Sight?”

“And more. These are all the researches done on the phenomena called 'First Sight' in this world, apparently. Everything else is from legends, old accounts, and such.” Reeve smiled wryly. “Do you know what is more interesting? These researches are based on General Sephiroth's.”

Cloud's eyes widened. Reeve continued, “Shinra monitors all of its most important personnel, and the General is no exception. What is rare, is that apparently the General's First Sight gradually changed. Not only in intensity but the Sight themselves.”  
  


The blond grimaced. He didn't really want to know about Sephiroth's 'special one'. Even if it had been _this _world's himself.

“So what? Both you and Tifa told me about First Sight. What does this have to do with your suggestion?”

Reeve lightly cleared his throat. “What I mean, is that the bond that Sephiroth had with you-” He amended when he noticed Cloud's glare, “_this _world's you was different from even the 'normalized' First Sight. That's why Sephiroth from this world is more grounded. Less... unstable. Or that's what I theorize, at least.”

When Reeve's word fully registered, Cloud gaped.

“You want me to... _stablize _Sephiroth?"

Reeve's smile turned uncomfortable. “In part... Yes. Cid is almost done with his airship, so he can go directly into Cosmo Canyon. With you stalling for time here, Cid moving would be less conspicuous, and probably more viable than have you escape Midgard in this situation.”

That... was true, in part. Cloud was still trying to figure out how to get to Cosmo Canyon when he had Zack on his tails 24/7, and Sephiroth's _presence _within Shinra building.

But still.

When Cloud continued to just _stare _at him with incredulity, Reeve gave him a diplomatic smile, which didn't really reach his eyes. “We have to adapt flexibly in this situation, and since your and my hands are tied to Midgard right now, we have to rely on Cid and Tifa.” He sighed and wearily added, “You are already buying us time. We can take advantage of this less than stellar situation.”

That was _also _true.

“My communication network can't get into Shinra's more powerful devices, but I think you could cover a _lot _of ground in your current predicament.”

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing. “I'm guarded and followed by Zack almost all the time. Sephiroth implied I would be monitored 24/7, and if I had the smallest of missteps, then he would have all of you under Shinra custody.”

Reeve's expression turned troubled. But he shook himself and continued, “As you've stated earlier. But, I don't mean to suddenly go up to the man and ask him questions. Given your trust with Lieutenant Fair, and _this _Cloud's connections to Sephiroth, I believe it's possible to learn more just by being in their vicinity.”

Cloud shook his head. “They are too good to let such information slip out, even if I'm there.”

“But given your statement earlier regarding your friend, it seemed that Lieutenant Fair and General Sephiroth did not completely adhere to protocol when it came to information sharing?”

Cloud fell into uncomfortable silence. Reeve pressed on, “If you could regain your friend's trust, you could be privy to more classified intel.”

“No.”

“But Cloud-”

The blond shook his head again. “I'm not going to use my friend. And I can't pretend to be somebody else. Not again.”

They lapsed into pensive silence again. Reeve fiddled with the tie distractedly, and amended after a while, “I'm not saying you have to manipulate Lieutenant Fair or the General. But they already seem to operate under the assumptions you are someone you are not. And if you could kill two birds in one stone just by being yourself, it sounds like a breath of luck we desperately need.”

Cloud snorted. He was _never _lucky. And a lie by omission already was a lie nonetheless, and he didn't feel comfortable or okay with this at all.

“If I'm staying here, I'm going to tell Zack I'm not the person he expects me to be.”

If the head of the WRO noticed Cloud's deliberate exclusion of Sephiroth's name, he didn't comment on it.

Reeve nodded. “Fair. But you have to think about what the Lieutenant went through here. I don't doubt you will be sincere with him, but I don't think he would believe that easily.”

“I will definitely try. I'm not going to be another dead ghost for them to chase.”

Reeve pursed his lips. “Even if they are to you?”

Cloud startled.

It wasn't true, was it? He did have a few daydreams where he imagined himself becoming friends again with Zack and Aerith, but he was trying his best to separate Zack and Aerith from his memories with the ones he met here.

And in Sephiroth's case? As long as Cloud was as far as possible from the silver haired man, he would be fine. No unexpected or unpleasant surprises, and he could pretend the man did not actually exist and that he technically wasn't _this _Cloud's First Sight or whatever.

In the end, he didn't really give Reeve an answer. He just replied, “I'll do what I can to buy you time. But I wouldn't put my hopes up regarding... 'Stabilizing' Sephiroth.”

Not to mention Cloud wasn't planning on being nearby Sephiroth at _all_. But if he could stall Zack, and by relation Sephiroth by turning their attentions onto him instead of AVALANCHE, then he would _try_ his best.

Reeve gave a relieved smile, which Cloud couldn't really give back, but nonetheless understood.

“Thank you Cloud. I'll try to manage a more discreet method of communication for all of us to coordinate better in the meantime. I'll let Tifa and Cid know about your whereabouts as well.”

Cloud felt a knot of worry loosen in his chest. “Thanks Reeve.”The man just nodded back.

The blond took one last look of his frazzled looking friend in front of him, and jumped back into the vent. When he crawled far away, the last thing he could hear from Reeve was his distracted mumble of, “Now, where did I put that research on Mako's unfitness as an energy source...?”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I crawled back from wherever I was holed in for this chapter. I'm sorry nothing quite exciting happens in this one. I jinxed myself in my last a.n, and it took me four months for this word spew. Ugh. 
> 
> Also, I think my laptop is possessed. Dx The mousepad just moves on its own and it goes back and forth by itself, clicks on things and at one point, it erased a huge chunk of the unsaved document Dx I tried my best to retype everything but, please let me know if something is off!
> 
> But STILL FF7 remake is OUUUT ahhhhhhhhhh. Not that far in the game yet, but Cloud is so pretty, and I've been oohing and aahing to every single cutscene so far haha. But AC Cloud still holds my heart lol.
> 
> AND THANK YOU ALL for sticking with this fic and the erratic author! OMG My heart can't take it!  
Your comments were the inspiration that kept me going when work got hectic, and I seriously can't express how grateful I am! 
> 
> Also this fic just reached 750 kudos???!!!!! I'm just speechless. Wow. It's just amazing I can't even??
> 
> And also, please stay safe during these times!

**Author's Note:**

> You might find some similarities with my other ffvii fic, but this fic was written first haha. I have a lot of headcanons regarding FFVII lore, so...  
This is my first attempt at a long, slow burn, platonic & sexual relationship-related fic so let me know if something doesn't feel right.  
I only have around 50 pages written so far, but hopefully now I'll continue working on this fic as well.
> 
> Please leave a comment, and let me know your thoughts!


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